The importance of clean water to society must be considered. According to the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the average man requires about 3 liters of water in liquid and food to function properly. Hence the necessity of healthy water as a precursor for flourishing health and life.
Though the country’s water bodies are unevenly distributed, Nigeria boasts a vast amount of water resources. Worldatlas ranked Nigeria number 12 on the list of African countries with the most lakes and placed it 15th in the World for Countries with the Most Renewable Freshwater Resources. The country’s aquatic resources are numerous. Yet, barring some missteps since independence in 1960, Nigeria could have ranked higher.
According to an article published in the International Journal of Engineering Research and Technology by Haruna Isah Umar in June 2020, over 900km2 of Nigeria’s geography is covered by inland water bodies, the majority of which can be found in the Niger-Delta part of the country.
The country produces over 215 cubic kilometers of available surface water per year, ranking above many other African countries, particularly those in the Southern and Northern parts of the continent. Its vast water bodies serve other purposes than sustenance, such as fishing, transportation, electricity generation, mining, industrial, and domestic uses.
Despite the availability of vast aquatic resources, the country continues to be ridiculed for the extensive pollution of its water bodies. Despite its extensive resources, a majority of its population continues to be deprived of access to healthy water. According to UNICEF, only 26.5 percent of the population uses improved drinking water sources and sanitation facilities. Whereas a staggering 23.5 percent still continue to defecate in the open. The lack of regulation of its water bodies has led to the manifestation of many waterborne diseases that have plagued its population. Transmission of parasites and microbes in contaminated drinking water has become a norm in the country, especially in its rural communities.
A consistent inability to manage water pollutants and regulate our water bodies has led to the contamination of groundwater, and many rivers, lakes, oceans, and other aquatic resources in the country, which in turn, have threatened the state and health of humans and aquatic life.
The country has battled with the effects of its extensive pollution, with diseases such as Cholera and diarrhea, ravaging many of its citizens. Over the years there have been thousands of Cholera cases and according to UNICEF, over 1,342 citizens were killed by cholera between 1996 and 2001 in North of Nigeria. Furthermore, the Federal Ministry of Health cited diarrheal as causing 16% of under-five infant mortality in 2007.
According to nrdc.org, Water pollution occurs when harmful substances—often chemicals or microorganisms—contaminate a stream, river, lake, ocean, aquifer, or other body of water, degrading water quality and rendering it toxic to humans or the environment.”. And the majority of water pollution in the World is caused by people.
Despite making up lost ground in recent years in the battle to end water pollution and its dexterous effects, Nigeria continues to fall short in producing and maintaining hygienic water, due to the lack of an apparent or sole regulatory body to prevent further aquatic degradation. The country introduced the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 1990), as a response to the constant Oil spillages, and the Act serves as guidelines to help prevent the further spread of Oil pollution. Subsequently, notable organizations such as National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) and The Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) have been created to help control and reduce oil incidents. However, the recent fracas involving former acting NDDC managing director, Daniel Pondei, is an indication of a lack of competency and accountability among the majority of the already established organizations
The pollution of water bodies in Nigeria can be narrowed down to different factors and practices in many rural and urban areas in the Country.
The majority of the pollution that has occurred in the country’s water bodies can be traced down to its industrial activities and practices. Since the discovery of Oil in the Niger-Delta region of the country in 1956, Nigeria has risen as one of the top oil-exporting countries. It is the largest oil-producing country in Africa –the resource, producing more than 85% of its export revenue. However, the country’s dependence on oil, despite the lack of adequate facilities has led to complications such as the oil spillages that have caused the majority of the pollution in water bodies, especially in the Niger Delta states.
According to the Ministry of Petroleum, there have been over 5,000 documented cases of oil spillages since its discovery. Some of the major spillages that have occurred in the country include the GOCON’s Escravos spill in 1978 – one of the first major spills in the country, where over 300,000 barrels of oil spilled into neighboring water bodies the country, and there have only been larger incidents since then, including the much-publicized spill on January 17, 1980 when a total of 37.0 million liters of crude oil spilled into the environment during the Funiwa 5 offshore incident.
Whenever an oil spill streams into a water body, -unlike the stiff nature of the ground surface- the moving current of surface water helps transport the oil quickly from one area to another, turning fresh water into the dark unhealthy oily mix seen in many areas of the South. The acidity of the water after its exposure to an oil spill makes it inhabitable for life, as the flow of oxygen in water bodies diminishes, subsequently leading to the death of living things such as plants and fishes that inhabit the polluted area. The effects are felt harder by the individuals that stay in such communities, as the spillage can stiffen transportation, rendering polluted areas inhabitable, with the loss of freshwater bodies usually coinciding with the loss of livelihood for most in such areas –who make their living fishing from the water bodies.
The harmful state of oil pollution to water bodies and their effect on the Nigerian population can be narrowed down to the increase of cancer in these oil-producing states in the past twenty years. These have been prevalent issues with men and women in oil-polluted areas suffering from cancers of the stomach, rectum, skin melanoma, soft tissue, and kidney. While an increase in hematopoietic cancer in children has been observed. Other harmful effects related to oil spillage in water bodies include increased stillbirth cases and gastritis
Most cases of Oil spillages happen during the mining or transportation processes involved with refining the raw material. The cases of the GOCON Escravos spill and the Funiwa 5 oil spillage are two of the greatest incidents of oil spillage that have occurred during mining. The latter which happened 5 miles off the Niger Delta occurred due to a lack of adequate mining structures -as the oil well blew out on January 17th and spilled into the sea, igniting itself on the 29th of that month, before the flow eventually stopped as the oil well bridged.
Other cases of oil spillage seeping into water bodies have been as a result of pipeline vandalization by thieves and aggrieved citizens of oil polluted areas. According to Researchgate.com Nigeria loses Four billion naira or $10.4 million per day of crude oil or some 10 percent to theft, and most times, these vandals target the destruction of the pipelines, with the sole purpose of siphoning oil. These damages lead to oil leaks and seepages, and in the worst case scenario –explosions, which also cause greater seepages into water bodies and subsequently degrade the surrounding environment. It is therefore imperative that deeper actions be taken by the Federal Government to enforce the annual maintenance and review of Oil Industries owned by both foreign and local companies, to prevent further mining incidents from occurring and worsening the situation of the country’s water bodies. While increased security to pipelines should aid in the fight against pipeline vandalism in the country
The lack of adequate waste management and disposal systems by individuals and organizations has also led to the prevailing pollution of water bodies in the country.
Despite boasting the largest population in Africa, Nigeria continues to struggle with the management of its waste, making use of primitive methods to dispose of its waste disposals, such as incineration of waste products, waste dumping, and burying, all of which continue to affect the environment, in one way or another. As in the instance of rainfall, the waste products, disposed in field dumps tend to be carried down to neighboring water bodies, contaminating it.
Also, the use of water bodies as sites for waste disposal in the country plays a major role in its water pollution. In parts of Nigeria, waste products are treated with chemicals and disposed of into water bodies, due to a lack of waste systems and inadequate recycling factories.
Though unharmful to these water bodies. The lack of regulation of the chemicals used, tend to lead to an over saturation of water bodies, causing eutrophication in surface water. Slowly, surface water gets deprived of oxygen, as algae dominates and turns the water green, while the growth of other water plants is suppressed; yielding to the uncontrolled growth of plants and grasses seen in many water bodies in the country.
The regulation of agricultural practices in the country has also led to a degradation of its water bodies. The use of nitrogen and phosphorus chemicals, sediment, animal wastes, pesticides, and salts, by farmers to grow crops often tends to lead to water pollution. Chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and animal feces then tend to find their way to water bodies through direct surface runoff or seepages to groundwater which then finds its way to these water bodies, further increasing the eutrophication of these aquatic resources.
Despite the increased advocacy for environmental justice, the issue of water pollution continues to remain prevalent in the country. A recent indication is the case of the oil spill in the Opu Nembi community of Bayelsa state, whereby indigenous oil firm, Aiteo Exploration and Productions was responsible for spilling Crude oil into the Santa Barbara River for one month.
According to The Nation, the spill started on November 5, 2021, polluting the Santa Barbara River and other connecting water bodies, going as far as affecting the water bodies of communities in other states such as Rivers and Delta. Bayelsa State governor, Senator Douye Diri, described the spill as the worst he had seen in his lifetime, stating a loss of over two million barrels of oil that ended up in water bodies.
The spill was caused by a pipeline leak and led to a fountain of oil that oozed into surrounding water bodies for weeks -the Federal Government, reacted to the latest incident of Water pollution by ordering a shutdown of the oil field. Citing the incident as an “unfortunate oil spillage”, while launching an investigation into the incident. However, efforts to ascertain and control the spillage proved ineffective due to the inaccessibility of the Wellhead, due to the extensive saturation of hydrocarbons in the atmosphere of the area.
Despite the recovery efforts by the oil company to curb the spread -by reinforcing the pipeline, the eventual decision by the Federal Government to kill the well, and the promise of sterner sanctions on the Oil company, the damage had already been done, as several residents and aquatic dealers had been chased out of their jobs and homes respectively, leading to weeks-long protest from the members of the community for retribution, that sadly, will most likely never come
Although the abject situation of water bodies in the country continues, the solution to ensuring the defeat of water pollution isn’t far-fetched. However, there needs to be a more coordinated push to end the situation from the Nigerian government, its citizens, and internal/external organizations. The use of hydrosols for removing contaminants should be promoted by the government. The country has made use of hydrosol in the past to treat some of its surface water bodies. However, the transfer of this technique as treatments for both soil and groundwater pollution should reduce the chances of these pollutants flowing back into water bodies.
Stricter sanctions, such as the closing of wellheads seen in the Santa Barbara incident, should be normalized, to promote a more careful practice by oil companies in the Niger Delta region. Furthermore, a healthy system of waste disposal and the use of recycling should be promoted by the government, with the establishment of preventive punishment against the degradation of the environment by individuals through feces dump and littering of waste prime defeating this crisis.
Lastly, organizations such as OPEC and the Ministries of Petroleum and Environment should provide a more active presence in checking the activities of oil companies and miners. The creation and improvement of existing organizations to regulate farming activities should aid in the control of chemical spillage into water bodies.
If left unchecked, Nigeria risks the complete depletion of the state of its water bodies, and the degradation of its aquatic and human resources to pollution. The majority of the water bodies in the Niger Delta region have been polluted in some way, and the effects of this pollution continue to extend into the few remaining healthy water bodies in the country, with prospective billions of Naira needed to remedy the damage already done. We must therefore pull heads together, and find ways to prevent the death of our water bodies before we pay the full price for our ignorance.
