By Grace Joseph, Bauchi

The General Manager, Bauchi State Rural Water and Sanitation Agency, Engr Garba Magaji has lamented the inadequate number of boreholes in the state disclosing that the whole state has only 3, 711 boreholes instead of the 6,348 required to effectively cover eighty to ninety per cent of the water needs of the state.

Magaji who made the remark when he received the new commissioner of Water Resources, Alhaji Muhammad Abdulhamid, who paid a familiarisation visit to the agency, said the state needs N33 billion to address the water, sanitation and hygiene challenges in the state.

Magaji described the number of boreholes in the state as inadequate to provide the required water especially in the rural communities of the state.

The General Manager disclosed that over 15,000 latrines were required in all the 20 Local Government Areas of the state to curb the menace of open defecation.

He however said the state government will declare Dass Local Government Area as free of open defecation area in the state.

Engr Magaji further expressed concern that over 8,000 people in the state practice open defecation due to absence of latrines in their respective areas and called on households in rural areas to provide

local latrines in their homes.

Similarly, the acting Managing Director, State Water and Sewage Corporation, formerly State Water Board, Engr Aminu Gital, told the commissioner that the corporation is only present in four out of the 20 LGAs of the state due to inadequate staff.

He said the reactivated treatment plant of Gubi Dam in the state capital,provides only 2.5 million gallons of water daily which, he said, is inadequate to cater for the teeming increasing population of

the city.

The Managing Director disclosed that a World Bank credit facility of sixty-five million dollars for the expansion of Bauchi water supply is on the way, which is expected to be paid in the next 20 years.

He said new pipes would be laid while new reservoir will be constructed which will enable the corporation to extend water supply to new settlements in the state capital.