Importance of water for all Nigerian

"Water can live very well without people, but we people can only live for 3 days without water." This quotation already contains the whole truth about the importance of water as the most essential form of nourishment for all forms of life. But humanity treats water as if it were an infinite resource. Only around 3% of the total amount of water available in the world is fresh water. Most of this is only available in the form of ice or subterranean water which cannot be exploited by us so that all in all, only around 0.2% of all the water in the world can be used for drinking water. Water cannot be reproduced; it is recycled in a closed circuit. Read more.....


The human body is 2/3 water, and this fact alone shows just how important healthy drinking water is for us. Every cell in our bodies needs water to function properly. Without water there would be no people, no animals, no plants. 

To maintain all bodily functions, a human needs up to 3 liters/5 pints of fluids a day. Unlike hunger, which a human can survive for several weeks as the body possesses aufficient reserves of fat, a lack of water will lead to certain death of a period of 3 days as the human body cannot retain any reserves of water. 

Humanity has been aware of this fact for thousands of years. In ancient Rome, for example, contamination of water was still seen as one of the greatest crimes. But we believe that we must sacrifice everything, and everything includes our water, on the altar of progress and so-called "prosperity." The people in our "prosperous" society have lost all respect for water and for Nature.

In the industrialized countries, for example, daily water consumption per head is between 150 and 300 liters/33-66 gallons. And of this only around 2% is used for drinking or cooking. The rest goes to flush toilets, to wash clothes, to wash the dishes, to wash the car, to clean the house, on body care or on watering the garden, etc. 

And then there are the huge amounts consumed by industry. Up to 400 metric tons of water are used, for example, just to produce one metric ton of steel. Almost every day we hear or read in the media that experts fear that there will be water shortages in the near future; or we learn how many diseases have their origin in poor water quality. Chemicals, fertilizers, air pollution, electrosmog, etc. are the reasons why water has lost its power of self-regeneration today.

In earlier times water still had this power of vitalizing the whole organism. Today, the emphasis seems to be more on putting so many chemicals (chlorides) into the water that it presents - at least from a scientific point of view - "no risk to health."

Potable water is a basic necessity of humans living in any society or nation in the world. Non-availability of adequate potable water in a country tends to undermine development in other sectors of that economy, with consequent health implications. Drinking or potable water is water certified safe for consumption by humans. In most developed countries, water meant for domestic and industrial consumption must meet standard requirement, even though only a very small proportion is actually consumed or used in food preparation. Other typical uses of water includes flushing toilet, washing and landscape irrigation.

On 28 July 2010, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly recognized that safe and clean drinking water and sanitation are human rights, essential for the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights. Subsequently, at its 15th session in September 2010, the UN Human Rights Council affirmed that the right to water and sanitation is derived from the right to an adequate standard of living and inextricably related to the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, as well as to the right to life and human dignity. The combined effect of the two resolutions was to anchor the right to water and sanitation in the framework of the right to an adequate standard of living, making it legally binding like any other of the rights inscribed in UN treaties.

The concept of progressive realization is fundamental to the human rights framework that states that, governments cannot solve the drinking water and sanitation situation overnight, but they must make tangible progress towards the realization of this right. Human rights principles also define various characteristics against which the enjoyment of the right can be assessed, namely: availability, safety, acceptability, accessibility, affordability, participation, non-discrimination and accountability. A distinctive feature of the human rights framework is the principle of non-discrimination. This requires looking beyond average attainment and dis-aggregating data sets to determine whether any sort of discrimination is occurring.

The declaration/recognition continues that if recognition of the human right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is to have any meaning, future targets and monitoring systems must endeavour to take these various aspects into account. And to that end, a yearly monitoring takes place. However, it is sad that in major parts of the world, humans face inadequate access to potable water and rely on sources contaminated with disease vectors, pathogens or unacceptable levels of toxins or suspended solids. Drinking or using such water in food preparation leads to widespread chronic diseases- a major cause of death and misery in many countries. Reduction of waterborne diseases is a major public health goal in developing countries, which Nigeria is a part. Water has always been an important and life-sustaining drink to humans and is essential to the survival of all known organisms. Excluding fat, the human body contains approximately 70 per cent of water. It is a crucial component of metabolic processes and serves as a solvent for many bodily solutes. The United States Environmental Protection Agency in risk assessment calculations previously assumed that the average adult ingests 2.0 litres per day. Considering the importance water plays in our survival, it is a resource worth investing in. Moreover, the provision of potable water for Nigerians is a determining factor to the achievement of Vision 20: 2020.

According to nation.master.com’s most recent survey, Nigeria occupies the last position among the forty largest economies in the world, in providing potable water for her citizens. According to the report, Nigeria is 114th in the ranking among 143 countries, providing potable water to 62 percent of her citizens. That means in terms of reaching her goal of being among the 20 largest economies in the world and bask in her prowess of providing safe drinking water for her people, she has to notch up 38 points to meet up with the first 27 countries, which provides 100 per cent potable water for their citizens.

At present, seems the provision of pipe borne water through government infrastructure is virtually absent. Pipe borne water is mainly provided through private/individual efforts. The major source the federal government mostly depend on, to ensure the 62 per cent achievement, is the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). Thanks to federal government’s foresight in appointing competent director-generals for the administration of the agency in recent years.
But the degree of oversight NAFDAC that exerts over the producers and distributors of sachet water is not certain. It is the most common water sold by water-vendors along Nigeria’s roads, though a number of persons have been arrested and charged to court for printing fake NAFDAC registration number on water sachets.

Who knows how many more out there operating with or without NAFDAC registration number that are not adhering to standard?

It is baffling that the federal government has not keyed into investing in this vital sector to generate revenue. Other countries do. For example, the US Government generates well over a hundred billion dollar annually in the form of companies, products, operations, ranging from production of pipes, water meters, desalination plants, sophisticated waste-water treatment systems, water utilities and water related consultancy. Perhaps, it is high time the federal government thought about restructuring and monitoring the flow of water to its people.

"Water can live very well without people, but we people can only live for 3 days without water." This quotation already contains the whole truth about the importance of water as the most essential form of nourishment for all forms of life. But humanity treats water as if it were an infinite resource. Only around 3% of the total amount of water available in the world is fresh water. Most of this is only available in the form of ice or subterranean water which cannot be exploited by us so that all in all, only around 0.2% of all the water in the world can be used for drinking water. Water cannot be reproduced; it is recycled in a closed circuit.

The human body is 2/3 water, and this fact alone shows just how important healthy drinking water is for us. Every cell in our bodies needs water to function properly. Without water there would be no people, no animals, no plants.