Chief Harrison Odungwere, a traditional ruler of Mbunmeta community in Ogale community, Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State, says residents of the community cook and bath with sachet or bottled due to contaminated underground water.
The paramount ruler said residents of the community regularly consume benzene-contaminated water due to the lack of portable drinking water in the area and called on the Federal Government to provide potable water by industrialising its supply in the area, adding that private boreholes produce water laced with crude oil.
“I have about 300 bags of sachet water, which we use for cooking and bathing, which will last my family a week. But those who can’t afford bottled or sachet water still drink, bathe and cook with the contaminated water.
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“Our community is heavily impacted and polluted by hydrocarbons for the past 15 years or thereabouts.
“The Ogale people have been drinking highly polluted water and suffering until when the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project came up and started supplying potable water with tankers, which was a big relief that time until that programme failed”, he said.
Odungwere added that though the Niger Delta Development Commission had dug one borehole in the area, where the residents access clean water, adding that the supply was inadequate for the people.
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“The NDDC has dug one borehole somewhere in our community for people to go to fetch water, but it is not enough. We need an industrialised water supply system that will be connected to people’s homes in our community,”.
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