Water, Water, Everywhere...

A new semester, new class, and a revitalization of the blog.  This time around the blog will operate a bit differently and will be more diverse.  Last semester we focused on the Niger Delta, this time we will present various current events.  I will open up with an initial current event.  Students will follow up weekly with their current event that is relevant to material that we are covering in class.  So here it goes!  Enjoy...

Water, Water everywhere...

  The topic of the week in class is essentially water, concentrating on the water cycle (in detail) and how humans interact with the liquid of life at each of the process.  The article that I found deals with water scarcity and quality, which ultimately leads to disease and suffering around the world and in Nigeria.  

The original article appeared in This Day on 24 March 2010, and is titled Nigeria: Unsafe Water/Poor Sanitation - Silent, Global, Local Killiers written by: Abimbola Akosile.

  The article essentially looked at the topic of sanitary water globally and locally and was inspired by World Water Day, which had been observed two days earlier. 

  Early on in the article we are presented with a scenario:

"For a moment, imagine a village in Nigeria without any decent toilet facility or good potable water. Imagine each inhabitant looking for personal corners, pathways or bushes to 'drop' their human waste, which incidentally is prime fertiliser.

Imagine a resultant fly-infested community, where open water sources and faecal heaps serve as egg-banks for maggots and diseases. Imagine thirsty individuals drinking the same water and using it for household chores, thereby importing diarrhea and other killer diseases into unwary homes. Imagine the absence of sanitary inspectors or regulatory guidelines for proper water usage or sanitation practices. Then imagine the result."

  The article states that this scenario, realistically, is not too far fetched.  With the absence of sanitary facilities apparent throughout the country, despite promises for the construction of necessary facilities by the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.  The reality is that diarrhea kills at least 10 children everyday in Nigeria (according to the article).  The origins of these diarrhea outbreaks are overwhelmingly the result of poor water sanitation.  

  Other stats that the article brings to light in its section titled "Fearful Stats" are just as worrisome.  According to the UN half of all girls who leave primary school do so because of lack of safe private toilets, contaminated water, and bad hygiene practices.  Furthermore, the article states, "WHO-UNICEF reports that 42 percent of the population in Nigeria has no access to improved drinking water, which accounts for 20 percent of those without access in Africa as a whole."

  The article quotes UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon saying, “These deaths are an affront to our common humanity, and undermine the efforts of many countries to achieve their development potential.”  This quote is followed by his concern for dwindling water resources, which will likely become even scarcer with the coming of global climate change.

  Local action was also represented in the article, which highlighted such organizations as WaterAid Nigeria, End Water Poverty, the Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), Global Call to Action Against Poverty (G-CAP), and Municipal Youth Vanguard.  Each of these organizations are involved in the fight against waterborne illnesses.  Together, along with some other groups they organized the world's longest toilet queue. The effort was performed on World Water Day and was expected to highlight the lack of safe water for many in the world.  

The World's Longest Toilet Queue in Abuja, Nigeria

  The article presents some frightening stats and really does not provide much hope for the future.  Yes, various NGOs ang governmental organizations are working recognize and are making some efforts to solve this problem, but the outlook is bleak.  Recently in Nigeria in several locales there were Cholera outbreaks, which claimed lives.  A drive through any town will reveal appalling water sanitation conditions without having to search for them.  I am not surprised by many of the stats and I feel the stats about Nigeria are likely, but what is worse is that it occurs in a country that has the resources (at least financially) to really tackle this problem.  I have to refer back to Ban Ki-moon's quote, "These deaths are an affront to our common humanity, and undermine the efforts of many countries to achieve their development potential."