Bauchi denies pumping untreated‎ water to public

Bauchi State Water Board has denied rumours being circulated that it pimped out untreated water for public consumption, calling the rumour malicious, unfounded and untrue.

General Manager (GM) of the Board, Engineer Aminu Aliyu Gital debunked the allegation in talks with journalists in his office.

“I am inviting anybody to our water treatment plant to come and see how we treat our waters before pumping it to the public for domestic use," he said.

He expressed his surprise about how some people concoct lies and drawing conclusions on issues without checking their facts.

“We have enough chemicals to treat out water to potable level without compromising all the parameters set for the cleanliness and safety of the water," he added.

Gital however accepted that changes in colour or taste of the water being noticed sometimes was as a result of illegal activities and breakages in the pipeline networks.

According to him, the  pipes had became old and pass through areas containing contaminants which is being taken care of by the board through the ongoing repairs for the urban water renewal project.

“Most of the unclean water you come across is as a result of illegal connections that goes through gutters, refuse dumps sites, soak ways or septic tanks. So when some of these pipes get punctured, it picks residue of the dirt associated with such environments and goes through peoples home. We are absolutely sure of the quality of water we pump to the public,"he added.

The GM therefore advised the public to always contact the board for their water connections in order to avoid running pipes through unhealthy environment and to also allow waters from such pipes to flow for about 2 – 3 minutes.

“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," he said.