NIGERIA-HEALTH: Stop, Don’t Drink That Water!

By Toye Olori Reprint | | Print |

Toye Olori

LAGOS, Jan 24 1997 (IPS) - Boys and girls dash between slow moving vehicles in the perennial traffic jams here selling packaged water to thirsty commuters during the hot afternoon.

The “cold, pure water”, as it is advertised to consumers, however, is not a healthy way to quench one’s thirst.

Nigeria’s health authorities are cautioning consumers to be weary of packaged and bottle water, which they say is sourced from polluted streams and packaged in unhygienic conditions.

Packaged water is sold in sachets containing .5 litres of water, while bottled water comes in 1.5 litres and .5 litres containers.

“Packaged water is very dangerous, one can not confirm its purity because nobody controls its production,” says Sola Olagunju, a doctor at a private hospital here. “Most of the time, water from streams, wells and broken pipes is used in the packaging of such drinking water leading to an upsurge in the cases of typhoid fever.”

The health hazards of the water are unknown to the boys and girls who sell it for traders in order to earn a few cents a day.

“…I sell at least one packet which contains 20 sachets, everyday and make a gain of 50 naira (about 60 cents) daily,” says twelve-year-old Muyideen Atanda, who dropped out of school two years ago.

Atanda sells water to supplement the meagre earnings of his father, a civil servant. The minimum monthly wage in Nigeria is 630 naira (about eight U.S dollars).

“I would have loved to continue school, but my dad has no money as the government asked us to pay 3,500 naira (about 43.7 dollars), before registering for secondary school,” says Kike Oyedele, an 11-year-old girl.

Petty trading of packaged water and other goods is the employment option for these children. But their days for selling packaged water may soon be numbered.

“Water borne diseases can easily be contracted through its consumption. Quite a lot of people are getting typhoid unknowingly,” says Olagunju.

Although the latest figures are not available, some 11,893 cases of typhoid were recorded in 1993, and 19,003 cases in 1992, the latest edition of the Federal Office of Statistics show.

“Packaged ‘pure water’ is usually sourced from wells, taps and even streams. It is merely sealed in polythene and called cold, pure water. There is nothing pure in it,” Ogundeji Fatogun, another doctor here says.

“It can never meet the hygienic standard required by the Standards Organisation of Nigeria or NAFDAC (the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control),” Fatogun adds.

NAFDAC’s director general Gabriel Osuide blames the proliferation of unwholesome packaged water on unregistered manufacturers.

Another NAFDAC official, who requested anonymity, told IPS that last year, NAFDAC registered just 24 companies to produce packaged water, yet, at present, more than 200 manufacturers are illegally producing sub-standard, packaged water in Lagos alone.

Investigations reveal that locations and premises where the water is packaged fall far below the standards recommended by health authorities, the official added. Both packaged water and even approved bottled water, for example, have no expiry date.

NAFDAC was set up in 1992 to regulate foods, chemicals, drugs, medicines and other products.

“We will soon embark on consumer education programmes in the country to enlighten the public on the dangers inherent in the drinking of impure and contaminated water,” says NAFDAC’s director Osuide.

“NAFDAC will henceforth punish anyone found to be producing packaged water without registration” Osuide warns. According to the regulations, the manufacture of products without a licence can lead to a jail term ranging from six months to two years depending on the product, and the business can be closed.

Nigerians should co-operate with his agency by reporting illegal packaged water producers to the NAFDAC product monitoring team, which has been set up to sanitise the packaged water business, he says.

The sale of bottled water took off in Nigeria some 15 years ago as the country increasingly dealt with the environmental and health consequences of unsafe drinking water.

Several suburbs throughout Lagos do not have piped water and many people’s only options are to buy water from their landlords or to procure it from nearby public taps, shallow wells or boreholes.

“I am happy that NAFDAC and government have woken up to control the manufacture of packaged water and I hope they will be able to do it without bias…,” Olagunju says.