Rumour of Pumping Untreated Water is False, Says Bauchi Water Board

By Segun Awofadeji in Bauchi 

The General Manager of Bauchi State Water Board (BSWB), Mr Aminu Aliyu Gital, has debunked the rumours making the rounds that the board is pumping unclean water to Bauchi metropolis and environs.

Reacting to the allegation in a chat with journalists in his office weekend, Gital described the rumour as malicious, unfounded and totally untrue, saying: “I am inviting anybody to our water treatment plant to come and see how we treat our water before pumping it to the public for domestic use.”

The general manager, who wondered how some people could wake up and start peddling rumours without crosschecking their facts, said: “We have enough chemicals to treat our water to potable level without compromising all the parameters set for the cleanliness and safety of the water.”

Gital, who readily accepts that sometimes one notices change in the colour or taste of the water, was however quick to point out that “most of the unclean water you come across is as a result of illegal connections that goes through gutters, refuse dumps sites, soakaways or septic tanks. So when some of these pipes get punctured, it picks residue of the dirt associated with such environments and goes through people’s homes. We are absolutely sure of the quality of water we pump to the public”.

He also used the interactive session  to advise the public to always contact the water board for their water connections in order to avoid running of pipes through unhealthy environment and to also allow water from such pipes to flow for about two to three minutes before use because “most of such pipes are iron and as such there is always the tendency of it getting rusted and so by the time you allow free flow of the water anytime we pump from our main, it washes the debris that accumulates from the pipes and gives you access to clean, safe and potable water that has met all the parameters associated with treatment of water”.