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Thanks to Salesians, Borehole Project in Nigeria to Supply Clean Water, Prevent Diseases

A member of Nkerefi community in Nigeria's Enugu Diocese fetches water from a facility facilitated by Salesian Missionaries.

Members of the Religious Institute of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) in Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Enugu are facilitating a borehole project aimed at providing clean water to an indigenous community.

In a Thursday, March 25 report obtained by ACI Africa, SDB officials say the borehole project that targets members of Nkerefi “will contribute to the livelihood of the local community, curtail the outbreak of waterborne diseases and infections, and help reduce the rate of women and infant mortality.”

“Clean water is a scarce commodity in Nkerefi.  The majority of families depend on a small, brownish stream called Evuna that partially runs through parts of the villages,” the Salesians say in the report published by Agenzia Info Salesiana, the information agency of the SDB.

According to the Salesians, the Evuna stream, which is seasonal, is the “only accessible water source for drinking, bathing, washing and cooking” for the members of Nkerefi in Southeastern Nigeria.

The seasonal nature of the river makes it unreliable leading to “a severe shortage of potable water as few people can afford to develop wells due to the cost and the hard nature of the soil,” members of the St. John Bosco-founded Religious Institute say in their March 25 report.

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They further highlight the contaminated nature of Evuna stream, water that has been “clinically confirmed to not be hygienic for consumption, especially drinking.”

They explain, “The stream has been a source for waterborne-related diseases. There have been outbreaks of cholera, ringworm, tapeworms, acute diarrhea and dysentery linked to the water. Typhoid fever is also a disease among the inhabitants of the community, and each year there are a number of women and children lost to the disease.”

According to a November 2020 survey report by the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), a third of Nigeria’s 201 million population “drinks contaminated water at home.”

The UNICEF report further notes that although 70 percent of the country’s population has access to basic drinking water services, “the amount and quality of water for individual use is lower than the required standard.”

“The average amount of water each person receives in Nigeria is 9 liters per day. The minimum acceptable range is between 12 and 16 liters per day, according to national standards,” UNICEF has reported.

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Amid the water challenges in Africa’s most populous nation, the Salesians are keen on increasing access to clean drinking water thanks to their “Clean Water Initiative,” through which the borehole project is being realized.

“We are pleased to be able to help support clean water access in this community, especially given all the health concerns the current water supply has caused,” Fr. Gus Baek, the Director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of SDB, which is funding the project, has been quoted as saying in the March 25 report.

Fr. Baek adds, “The new borehole will provide potable water that will save the community from avoidable waterborne diseases and infections caused by heavy dependence on stream water and rainwater.”

Similar projects have also been completed in other African countries including Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, South Sudan, Rwanda, Madagascar, Togo, Benin, Ghana and Nigeria.

 

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