After more than a decade of broken supply and chronic scarcity, the Kano State Government has asked residents to prepare to see water flowing again from the Challawa Water Treatment Plant.
Commissioner for Water Resources, Environment and Climate Change, Dr. Dahir Muhammad Hashim, gave the assurance during an inspection of the Challawa facility and Goron Dutse reservoirs, where rehabilitation works are nearing completion.
“This plant has a capacity of 220 million litres, but when we took assessment, we realised we were not even having up to 30 percent of what we are supposed to have. The aim is to see that we restore this waterworks from now to December, Insha Allah, to its 100 per cent capacity,” he said.
Hashim explained that Challawa, which supplies 51 per cent of water demand in Greater Kano, had been crippled by vandalisation and neglect.
He said filtration units, clarifiers, manifolds and high lift pumps had now been restored, while asbestos pipes were being replaced with steel pipes, and a test run is expected by mid September.
The commissioner stressed that Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf’s administration is determined to bridge Kano’s water demand gap, currently estimated at over 300 million litres daily, out of the total 700 million liters daily need.
“We want to assure the public that this administration is very much committed to ensure that this issue of water scarcity is brought to a complete halt,” he said.
The commissioner also appealed to residents to use water responsibly once supply resumes.
“Communities receiving water should please handle it with utmost care. We have seen cases where taps have been left to spill water throughout the day. Government is trying all possible avenues to restore water to the people of Kano,” he said.
Managing Director of the Kano State Water Board, Engineer Garba Ahmed Bichi, said none of the Goron Dutse reservoirs had received water for over ten years.
“For over ten years, none of these reservoirs accommodated any water because Challawa was not supplying. But fortunately, now with the intervention of His Excellency, there is improved supply and production from Challawa and Tamburawa,” he said.
Bichi explained that the reservoirs, constructed between 1930 and 1974, had been desilted and repaired, with pipe networks replaced.
He expressed optimism that water would begin flowing into the reservoirs by the end of September.
