In a country where there is a wide gulf between the rich and the middle class, living in highbrow areas like Lekki, Ikoyi and Victoria Island in Lagos is a sign of better life.

The belief of many residents of the Lagos mainland is that those in these parts of the city are living large. This is more reinforced by the fact that the crème de la crème of the country have their homes in these places.

If one is to suddenly relocate from the mainland to either Ikoyi or Lekki, the belief is that providence has suddenly smiled on such individual.

But living in these areas has its downside as Saturday PUNCH has learnt.

A new finding has revealed that residents who use water from boreholes constructed within their compounds in these areas might unknowingly be drinking or using water contaminated with their own human wastes.

Saturday PUNCH was on a finding mission on the impact of human waste disposal in the Lagos Lagoon when the fact came to light that the construction of septic tanks in these highbrow parts of Lagos was not a good idea.

The Coordinator of the Lagos State Wastewater Office, Mr. Lekan Shodeinde, told Saturday PUNCH that the water table in these areas was too shallow, which is why the construction of both septic and borehole in the same compound is a dangerous affair.

Shodeinde said, “A lot of houses in areas like Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki are polluting the water table.

“Those areas are not supposed to put in place septic tanks. In some of these areas, before you dig five feet, you have reached the water table. Now, imagine going to such places to put in place septic tanks which are constructed in such a way that the waste seeps into the ground.

“They are simply soiling the water table. These areas are supposed to have a centralised wastewater treatment where the effluent emanating from households passes for treatment.”

This is the practice in many developed countries where centralised sewers are put in place to cater for the management of human wastes generated from each home.

According to Steven Burian, Stephan Nix and Robert Pitt in their study on Urban Wastewater Management in the US, the centralised system of management of wastewater has been in existence in the country since the middle of the 19th Century.

Saturday PUNCH spoke with a bricklayer, who explained that a standard septic tank could be as deep as 10 feet. Considering the fact that the water table in these coastal areas is comparatively shallow, it is possible that contamination occurs to groundwater sources in some of the places.

Experts say there may be considerable hazard for those who use water sourced from boreholes directly in these areas, or those who do not have water treatment facilities or filters in their homes.

Prof. Ebenezer Meshida of the Geoscience Department of the University of Lagos, who also teaches at the Civil Engineering Department of the Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, said the type of water one can get in most parts of Lekki, Ikoyi, Ajah and Victoria Island, is highly contaminated.

He said, “The water in the region is not expected to be used as drinking water. That type of water can be used to clean your car or flush the toilets. Any water you get around five metres depth is highly dangerous.

“The type of water that is fit for consumption in that area should be obtained from boreholes that are very deep, deeper than third water level. Those who are experienced in drilling boreholes understand that at the third water level, you get fresh water. Sometimes you get to 200 metres or 300 metres before you can get drinkable water but some will say it is too expensive.

“Those who build houses in that zone of Lagos must be people with millions of naira in their pockets because it is not a zone that is good for extracting drinkable water.

“What is usually obtained there is salty or polluted water. Most of the diseases people fall prey to in Lagos are from polluted water consumption.”

But what can be done by those who already have shallow boreholes in these areas?

Prof. Meshida said boiling of the water is an age-old system that still works fine.

He said, “Boiling is the first stage of treatment. You can then filter after that. In those days, we made use of filters that used candles. If you boil water from whatever source it comes from and you filter it with a cloth and put it in the candle filters, you can be sure you are safe.

“I will suggest that anybody who wants to drink water sourced from shallow boreholes in such areas should go to environmental chemists. They are in university chemistry departments. They will help to analyse the water. They will be able to identify the chemical composition and determine the best way to treat the water.”

A borehole contractor, Mr. Elijah Idowu, who runs Noble Fourstar Hydro Resources, explained to Saturday PUNCH the process it takes to reach a depth where drinkable water can be extracted in the Ikoyi-Victoria Island-Lekki zone.

He said, “Digging borehole is never a child’s play in that zone because you will be talking of about 500 or 700 metres before one can reach a drinkable water depth.

“If an average depth borehole is about N500,000 in another place, you will be looking at about N7m to dig a borehole in a place like Lekki or Ajah.

“What we do usually is that we screen and case the contaminated water part of the hole so that this does not affect the fresh water we reach at the deeper part. Even with that, it is still advisable if the residents install facilities which they can use to filter the water before consumption.”

The Lagos Water Corporation has always discouraged the sinking of boreholes in the Lagos metropolis but in a city where a large percentage of the residents do not have easy access to pipe borne water, this may be a futile plea.

The Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, has also expressed concern over the proliferation of boreholes in the state, saying they constituted long term environmental problem.

In a publication by PUNCH in February 2012, the governor said the residents of the state were better off with more water works than more boreholes in their different houses.

He urged the residents to make use of domestic connections to their homes wherever there is a waterworks, saying government would continue to build waterworks to bring water close to various homes in the state.

When Saturday PUNCH spoke with some residents of these upscale areas, it turned out that the situation was more pathetic than most people would imagine.

Those who spoke with Saturday PUNCH at Victoria Island, explained that the water they get from their boreholes is so bad that it is sometimes totally unusable without being treated.

At Idejo Street, Victoria Island, a house guard, Henry Okoro, went inside his compound and brought out a bowl of water. It looked like one in which brown clay had been dissolved.

“This is the kind of water you get from the borehole here,” he said.

He said a tanker supplies the house with water from another part of Lagos every week.

“Some of these tankers collect N10,000 per supply, some N8,000,” Okoro said.

At Osapa London area of Jakande, Lekki, a resident, Oyebola Ogunsanya, said even though she did not know that septic tanks pollute the water table, she and other residents were not bothered because the water in their borehole is not usable.

She said, “The water in the borehole is like the colour of salt and it is very salty. Even after treatment, it is still not usable. We pay tankers to fill our overhead tanks.

“Apart from the N7,000 I pay to fill the tank which I share with another neighbour in my boys’ quarters, I spend as much as N5,000 weekly on bottled and sachet water. The water from our borehole is just unusable.

“Where I was living before, the water was brownish in colour. You dare not even think about using it to wash, not to think of drinking. What we do is that we treat the water so that it could at least be used to wash clothes and toilets.

“We have a water treatment plant in the house. After treating the water, we wait for about three hours. Then it turns whitish. Only then can we use it to bathe or wash toilets. Even at that, one still has to pour disinfectants in it.

“My sister in Lekki Phase I lives in a six-bedroom duplex and they have to get two tankers of water every week.”

But Mrs. Stella Billy-Ashogbon, who lives in Ajah said the water in that side of the coast is cleaner than the one obtained around VI.

She said, “Most people who live here are those who would not spare cost in anything they do in their houses. Most people know that the deeper you go, the cleaner the water becomes. People who live here hire professionals to dig boreholes in such a way that they would not worry about contamination.

“Most of those who dig shallow wells or boreholes don’t use them for domestic purposes. They use it for construction or to wet flower. To get a sustained supply, you will have to go very deep.

“Those who build septic tanks around here take it far away from boreholes and they can afford to make their boreholes very deep, no matter the cost.

“All my friends living between Victoria Island and Chevron area of Lekki have a similar problem though. No matter how deep their boreholes are, the water they get from there is always brown. They buy water all the time. Sometimes they even buy water to wash clothes.

“Saying this place is supposed to have a centralized sewage system instead of individual septic tanks is just being idealistic. We like to be idealistic in the country instead of addressing our own peculiarity.”

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Ewwwwwwww this is just too disgusting to imagine

[size=17]They drink faeces-infested water cos the Lagos State Govt, like most State Govts, have FAILED WOEFULLY to provide clean pipe-borne Water for Majority of its Citizens.[/size]

No Tolls to Collect in the case of this Service, faaaa

Hahahahaha hi make fruntpaige....thenk mama, papa. Uncu, anti, broda, sixta and finally Jesus

Too long. Summarise.

@ topic. on a serious note this is serious.in a situation where u can't rely on govt for basics like purified water, light, roads, security; where individuals r forced to provide these for them selves, there's bound to b challenges.

But why live there if you ain't got money to dig a borehole to the third water level?
They should be careful as this cholera outbreak is killing more and more peeps.
Another transmitters of this deadly disease are cockroaches and rats,through their feaces. The more reason I tell people to fumigate their houses but they tink it's becos it's my bizness.
Not just becos of that,bt becos pest control and fumigation is still the most effective way to control these insects and rodents in our homes,churches,offices,restaurants,schools and public gatherings. And it should be done every quarter.
Bt my peeps will nt learn until someone's affected. I dnt even want to talk about Lassa Fever again.
Call me on 08073122596 to start up your own pest control program,which is cheaper. (whatsapp too).

naijacutee: I've always wondered why water in Lagos is uniformly rusty coloured. To be honest, I think that what we need are better water processing systems that sterilises the water and neutralises the colour. If water is properly treated and sterilised, there's no need for this faecal drama. After all, the faeces that goes into the ground goes on to fertilise the soil on which we grow crops eaten by millions worldwide. When the process is right, it doesn't matter.

The rusty colour is as a result of high concentration of the metal and natural resource iron (~5% of earth crust) in Lagos and especially the Eti-Osa area.

Iron is mainly present in water in two forms: either the soluble ferrous iron or the insoluble ferric iron. Water containing ferrous iron is clear and colorless because the iron is completely dissolved. When exposed to air in the pressure tank or atmosphere, the water turns cloudy and a reddish brown substance begins to form. This sediment is the oxidized or ferric form of iron that will not dissolve in water.

People around that axis spend millions in treating their water. And sometimes such huge investments do not completely remove the iron. I have seen instances when people had to sink multiple wells before finally getting clear water, which BTW, is not still totally rid of iron. And that thing has a very awful smell and taste! It also leaves rusty brown stains on sanitary wares.


WRT waste water, Urban/Town planning is never done in Nigeria, else all these would have been identified and proper solutions proffered before citizens move in and start building. Thus, the whole issue stems from improper planning. This exposes us to a lot of hazards; flooding, building collapse, and others like the one in the report, etc. Especially the kind of septic tanks erected in that area, with its peculiar ultra shallow water table.

I hope sth is done before a major epidemic breaks out.

Make lagos state siddon there,most of the houses in Ikoyi,lekki,VI has water treatment plant. They are aware of the condition of their water,so in Ikoyi,lekki,VI you cant see a house without water treatment plant.

DIS IS DISGUSTING SMH

My Atmospheric Drinking Water Condenser does it for me. It costs just 300,000 Naira and makes water from Air, up to 30 litres per day.

Billyonaire: My Atmospheric Drinking Water Condenser does it for me. It costs just 300,000 Naira and makes water from Air, up to 30 litres per day.

BROS DATS PERSON CAPITAL TO START A BUSINESS HW MANY PEOPLE CAN AFFORD IT

Well, if you live there and have waste water disposal challenge, I can design and install a domestic treatment plant for your building. I have done , and still doing, for several others.

mail me on "homerac7 at yahoo dot com". Well, if you live there and have waste water disposal challenge, I can design and install a domestic treatment plant for your building. I have done , and still doing, for several others.

mail me on "homerac7 at yahoo dot com".

Hmmm i though with all the APC propaganda and Fasholas "mega water works" Lagos shud not have all these kind of problems again

LMAO!

presher: BROS DATS PERSON CAPITAL TO START A BUSINESS HW MANY PEOPLE CAN AFFORD IT

People in the Lagos Island Region are the ones that the write-up is about.

Billyonaire: My Atmospheric Drinking Water Condenser does it for me. It costs just 300,000 Naira and makes water from Air, up to 30 litres per day.

30litrs/day ? That cud only sustaind a bachelor.
N300k is damn too much compard to d result u get

rozayx5: Hmmm i though with all the APC propaganda and Fasholas "mega water works" Lagos shud not have all these kind of problems again

There is a mini LASG water works for the indigent in the Lekki town that I live in. And to the best of my knowledge, It takes care of their water needs.

Billyonaire: My Atmospheric Drinking Water Condenser does it for me. It costs just 300,000 Naira and makes water from Air, up to 30 litres per day.

Blawdy liar! Who dash dog biscuit bone? You that drink sachet water is here making mouth about ADWC? You and your incessant lies won't put you in trouble one day.

Lagos State is practically begging people to connect to the State's public water supply but old habits die hard.

I even saw a digital card operated state water supply in a building. Smart move but it's going to be a tough job to convince the average Lagosian to hook up to the State's water supply.

If the residents are drinking feaces, they should be dropping dead like flies by now.......or smelling of feaces as they roll around town.

The reality is that almost everyone has a water dispenser in their homes.

Billyonaire:

People in the Lagos Island Region are the ones that the write-up is about.

At Idejo Street, Victoria Island, a house guard, Henry Okoro, went inside his compound and brought out a bowl of water. It looked like one in which brown clay had been dissolved.

“This is the kind of water you get from the borehole here,” he said.

Mr Okoro too will come on NL and say he has an 8 bedroom duplex in VI when he is actually the chief security officer

How is life in Fantasia Mr Billyonaire?

Billyonaire: My Atmospheric Drinking Water Condenser does it for me. It costs just 300,000 Naira and makes water from Air, up to 30 litres per day.

A mini water treatment plant is not even up to that amount. It is better to go for a WTP. You can't do cook,do laundry and other things with Atmospheric Drinking water condenser. Moreover, try and found its health effects. I heard it causes Lung cancer

As the old saying goes, any fool can pee against the wall, but it takes a frigging genius to pinch a loaf onto the ceiling.

Be that as it may, can we now safely conclude that many residents of the Lagos metropolis who occupy the most affluent addresses are in fact habitual consumers of sewage effluent?

If the cream of Lagos society are in fact enjoying a diet that includes their own solid and liquid waste, yet manage to appear so vibrant and healthy all the time, perhaps eating chit isn't such an unhealty habit after all. Matter of fact, some of my best friends have probably been eating chit for a long time, and haven't ever complained to my hearing so far, so hey, maybe I ought to try some one day.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

olu_kenzo :


There is a mini LASG water works for the indigent in the Lekki town that I live in. And to the best of my knowledge, It takes care of their water needs.

There is even one along Bourdillion/Alexander road that takes care of Ikoyi area. You have access to it on request.

Billyonaire: My Atmospheric Drinking Water Condenser does it for me. It costs just 300,000 Naira and makes water from Air, up to 30 litres per day.

@ billyonaire,

Bros, u always claim to have everything.
Dem swear for you?
Haba, u should be banned permanently for your excessive bragging

I was in lekki recently to see a friend. I just spent 2 nites there I couldn't stay anymore. I put on the shower to bath, the running water smells like rotten egg. You could actually perceive the stench odor of their water. Lagos is the worst place anybody should live in Nigeria. The slum city sux!

Chino72: I was in lekki recently to see a friend. I just spent 2 nites there I couldn't stay anymore. I put on the shower to bath, the running water smells like rotten egg. You could actually perceive the stench odor of their water. Lagos is the worst place anybody should live in Nigeria. The slum city sux!

Water smelling like rotten eggs?

Wata don pass garri for dem be dat o. Rich man paradise where dem dey take gutter water dey baf, and den drink am. E get as e be.

Cholera time things

Billyonaire: My Atmospheric Drinking Water Condenser does it for me. It costs just 300,000 Naira and makes water from Air, up to 30 litres per day.

You try too hard to pass yourself off as "Rich".

If you truely are, it should be effortless.

cholera in the making.