The people of Ezuma Village of Aro-Ajatakiri in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia want the state government to dig boreholes to save them from the hardship being experienced as a result of their polluted river.
A Community Leader, Chief Godwin Nwosu, made the call in an interview in Aro-Ajatakiri on Wednesday, January 31, 2024.
The Community woke up on Jan 23, to see the river, which is their major source of drinking water, polluted with dead fish and other animals.
“The World Health Organisation through their Disease Control Unit had come to collect sand and water samples from the river.
“They enquired about the source of the water and I told them that it was from the Umuajata Community in Olokoro Umuahia.
“They later informed me that they had visited the community and they also complained that their river was also polluted.
“That is how serious the pollution is and now that the government has banned people from approaching the river, our people find it difficult to get water for drinking and other domestic purposes.
“That is the reason we are calling on the government to urgently come and dig boreholes for us to save our people from the temptation of fetching and using water from the polluted stream,” he said.
Nwosu thanked the state government for swiftly swinging into action to investigate the situation.
He said that the river was polluted during the second tenure of Orji Uzor-Kalu but all the reports made to the state government did not yield any result.
He, however, called for speedy completion of the investigation as well as effective steps to forestall future occurrences.
The Abia Commissioner for Environment, Mr Philemon Ogbonna, had on Tuesday said that the government had received the community’s complaint and had collected water samples to investigate the source of the pollution.
By Ijendu Iheaka
