By Eniola Elewude
Residents of Wuse District in the Federal Capital Territory have appealed to the authorities to urgently restore public water supply after nearly three weeks of dry taps in Wuse Zones 1, 2, 3 and Wuse II.
They said the prolonged outage had forced households and businesses to rely on commercial water vendors, with many paying high prices for the essential commodity.
A resident of Wuse Zone 2, Mrs Ngozi Okafor, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday that the situation had become unbearable, adding that families were spending a significant part of their income on water.
“Water is a basic necessity, and we are appealing to the authorities to restore supply because we need water urgently,” she said.
Another resident, Mr John Bamgbose of Wuse Zone 6, said the shortage was creating health concerns as residents struggled to meet their daily water needs.
“The situation is becoming a serious health concern. Families are rationing water for cooking, bathing and sanitation,” he said.
A resident of Wuse II, Mrs Esther Bassey, urged the Federal Capital Territory Administration and relevant agencies to intervene and restore supply without further delay.
“We are appealing to the authorities to come to our rescue. Wuse is one of the major districts in Abuja, and residents should not have to suffer this way,” she said.
The residents called for urgent action, stressing that access to clean water was essential for public health and sanitation.
NAN gathered that the disruption was caused by damage to a major trunk line supplying the affected districts during road construction work by a contractor.
Engineers are currently repairing the damaged line to restore supply.
The FCT Water Board had earlier announced that emergency maintenance on the trunk line was responsible for the outage and assured residents that supply would resume after repairs.
The Board said it had deployed commercial water tankers to provide free potable water to residents of Maitama, Wuse 1, Wuse 2 and Wuye districts pending the completion of the maintenance work.
It added that repairs had been delayed by persistent rainfall, warning residents against paying for water supplied by the tankers and urging them to report anyone demanding payment. (NAN)
Edited by Tosin Kolade