Experts have expressed concern over the increasing threats posed by pollution, climate change and other human activities to water resources in Niger State, calling for urgent action to protect water bodies from further degradation.
The warning was issued during a sensitisation programme on the protection and conservation of groundwater quality organised by the Future Earth Water Science Cluster Programme in collaboration with the Federal University of Technology (FUT), Minna, and the Niger State Ministry of Water Resources.
The programme, held at the Tagwai Dam site, brought together students of FUT Model School and Bosso Secondary School to promote environmental awareness and encourage responsible water conservation practices.
Speaking earlier during the event at FUT Model School in Minna, Dr Dan Hassan said that although about 71 per cent of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, only 2.5 per cent is freshwater, while less than one per cent is readily available for human use.
Dr Hassan, a retired director of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) at the Federal Ministry of Water Resources and Sanitation (FMWRS), Abuja, warned that Nigeria is increasingly vulnerable to climate change, with flooding, drought, pollution, rising temperatures and declining groundwater posing serious threats to water resources.
According to him, pollution from open defecation, untreated sewage, industrial waste, agricultural chemicals, oil spills, mining activities and indiscriminate waste disposal continues to endanger water quality and expose communities to diseases such as cholera, typhoid fever and diarrhoea, among others.
He urged citizens to protect water sources by avoiding indiscriminate waste
