Weeks after Governor Nasir el-Rufa’i of Kaduna State commissioned the Zaria water project, the taps are still dry.
In an elaborate ceremony, the Kaduna State Government, on Saturday, May 27, 2017, commissioned the Zaria water project, which has been ongoing for many decades.
Many residents believed that the perennial water scarcity that has been bedevilling the ancient city would come to an end from that day.
This is largely due to the fact that long before the formal commissioning, water pipes that covered several kilometres were laid in almost all parts of the ancient city.
Similarly, the vigour the El-Rufa’i administration gave the project made residents to nickname it ‘El-Rufa’i water.’ However, weeks after the commissioning ceremony, taps in most areas of Zaria and Sabon Gari local governments have remained dry.
This development made residents to voice their concern, saying the government shouldn’t have been in a hurry to carry out an elaborate commissioning ceremony, being aware that taps would not run afterward.
This is why many residents believe that it may take months for residents to start enjoying the ‘El-Rufa’i water.’ “As a layman, I think after the completion of the treatment plant, construction of reservoirs and burying of the main pipes, households would be connected.
Very soon, connection to households would commence, where residents would be linked with the new pipes and meters mounted.
The people that were on the old pipes have started seeing improvement because the plant has started pumping water at one-third of its capacity.
Zaria residents keep their fingers crossed as they await completion of the project.

The challenge of desertification, already big, is becoming even more significant as a growing global population places increasing pressure on productive land.
If we have any chance of delivering more nutritious food to people in the Global South we need to recover degraded land and enhance the health and fertility of our soils.
In fact, rising temperatures and increasing water scarcity and salinization are already a major constraint to agricultural production, threatening to consign many rural communities to chronic poverty and food insecurity.
Today, on World Day to Combat Desertification , we present important lessons from some of our recent initiatives that promote sustainable development across the dry areas and fight the effects of desertification.
We reflect on the progress of ICARDA’s new decentralized genebank architecture.
A response to conflict in Syria, this approach is now strengthening the conservation of plant genetic material and enhancing the development of improved climate-resilient crops.
In Jordan, to cope with water scarcity, we have developed practical mechanized water harvesting techniques that support the revegetation of degraded rangeland ecosystems.
In response to recurrent drought in Eritrea in recent years, we are working with national partners to develop high-yielding climate-resilient wheat varieties that are generating yields way above those achieved by conventional varieties.
Finally, An ICARDA initiative that promotes cactus production in Tunisia has introduced a practical and cost-effective technology to cut cactus cladodes that is enhancing rural livelihoods and reducing the drudgery faced by many women producers.
Cactus plants are well adapted to the climate, provide valuable supplementary feed during feed gap periods, and are a reliable source of water, containing up to 90% of this precious natural resource.

Water is absolutely fundamental to life, which makes the increasingly loud warnings about water scarcity and an impending global water crisis so concerning for world leaders.
“What’s happening bit by bit is that water scarcity is becoming increasingly common all around the world, no matter where you look as country after country hits the limit of what it can use,” says Professor Mike Young.
“Whether that’s in Australia, California, China, India, Pakistan, or right throughout Africa.” Cities across the world are becoming increasingly thirsty as the demand for water grows and supply dwindles.
In the end, less than one per cent of the planet’s water is actually available to fuel and feed the world’s 7.5 billion people.
This month the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that by 2050 global demand for fresh water is projected to grow by more than 40 per cent and at least a quarter of the world’s population will live in countries with a “chronic or recurrent” lack of clean water.
The resource has become a popular commodity for investors who are looking to profit from the growing value of water.
“There’s a change in attitude as farmers start to realise these problems have to be resolved.” According to him an appropriate management system for countries sharing access to water would mean “water rights are defined as shares not guaranteed entitlements, and every person is given a water account that looks just like a bank account.
“Australia has one of the best water sharing systems in the world, particularly as a result of the reforms made in the last 20 years in Australia where we’ve redefined our water rights as shares,” Prof Young said.
Desalination and recycled water are playing an increased role in meeting our water needs in Australia.
“As a general rule, growing crops using desalination, it doesn’t pay,” Prof Young said.

In UP, Women-Led Collectives Are Taking On Bundelkhand’s Water Problem.
Until the rains of last year, the arid region was hit by three successive drought seasons.
Now, a water collective from Lalitpur district’s Bhamaurisar village, which faced a similar problem in 2011, has taken charge of Bundelkhand’s daily battle for water.
Many of them have succeeded in drawing the attention of authorities to address and solve serious water problems in their respective areas.
The women, who had rarely stepped out of their village, led a strong campaign and petitioned the district magistrate and local officials for five years.
Ultimately, they succeeded in getting a water supply project sanctioned for their village.
Many times, we were made to sit outside and asked to come back," says Rekha.
Similarly, Renu and Parvati officially formed a water collective Jal Sahelis in Lalitpur’s Kakradi village in 2013 and following three years of struggle, managed to secure funds from the district administration to revive and fortify a dry pond in their region.
"The men used to say that if women started digging wells, what will they do," says Phulwati Devi.
Fed up of walking three kilometre a day to fetch water, the active campaign of the two women paid off when more people – including men – joined in and the government gave them funds for the construction of the well.

BJP leader urges CWC to act on Mahanadi river dispute.
bhubaneswar, Jun 17 Senior BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra today urged the Central Water Commission (CWC) to facilitate an agreement between Odisha and Chhattisgarh for proper sharing of the Mahanadi river water.
Requesting the CWC to call the officials and engineers of both the states without further delay to work out a pact, the BJP leader said it should facilitate signing of a water sharing agreement between the two states for proper sharing of the Mahanadi water.
Stating that such an agreement would solve the river water dispute to a great extent, Mohapatra said if the CWC failed to take immediate steps for having a water sharing pact between the two states, the Centre should give instructions to it in this direction.
Odisha government should also take steps for such an agreement in the interest of the state and its people, he said adding that the agreement must include water sharing for both monsoon and non-monsoon periods.
At the same time, Odisha government should take steps for construction of submersible barrages on at least six rivers in the Mahanadi river system which would cost not more than Rs 1000 crore.
Bhubaneswar, Jun 17 Senior BJP leader Bijoy Mohapatra today urged the Central Water Commission (CWC) to facilitate an agreement between Odisha and Chhattisgarh for proper sharing of the Mahanadi river water.
Requesting the CWC to call the officials and engineers of both the states without further delay to work out a pact, the BJP leader said it should facilitate signing of a water sharing agreement between the two states for proper sharing of the Mahanadi water.
Stating that such an agreement would solve the river water dispute to a great extent, Mohapatra said if the CWC failed to take immediate steps for having a water sharing pact between the two states, the Centre should give instructions to it in this direction.
Odisha government should also take steps for such an agreement in the interest of the state and its people, he said adding that the agreement must include water sharing for both monsoon and non-monsoon periods.

blinkx.com RUKUM, June 17: Water scarcity has crippled the district hospital of Rukum, where dozens of patients for treatment every day.
With the water resources drying up in the dry season, the hospital is not able to manage even drinking water for patients and visitors.
According to Rajendra DC, chief of District Health Office, water scarcity is not a new problem in the hospital.
However, over the years, it has become more severe as the water sources have begun to dry permanently.
Khadka has been admitted to the hospital since the last few days.
The patients have suffer a lot in lack of water.
Since there is no water resource nearby, managing water in the hospital calls for a big, serious plan, he said.
“The cost goes very high if we for making water available in the hospital due to its remoteness,” he added.
A local of Aathbiskot Municipality, Shyam Bahadur BK, reported that the hospital does not let patients use its toilets due to lack of water.
The hospital neither provides drinking water nor sanitation.

He warned the group that by 2050, we won’t have enough fresh water for the people who need it.
The UN, and other global organizations, have been warning us of water shortages by 2050 for years — if not decades.
Among other statements, then-UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon warned of water shortages in 2050 and the risk of conflict in November 2016.
In 2010, the UN Environmental Program (UNEP) called for lowering consumption of meat and dairy to protect future water reserves, stating that the population of nine billion people expected in 2050 cannot eat the way we do now and have enough water for everyone.
A full 16 years ago, in 2001, the UN Population Fund warned that the world will begin to run out of fresh water by 2050, and UNFPA’s World Population Report from 1992 also warns of water shortages by 2050.
Water shortages bring health risks beyond the danger of violent conflict over water resources.
In addition to conflict and hunger, water shortages bring disease.
Fairer, more equitable cooperation between countries would reduce the number of people in poor countries left without access to clean water.
This makes more of our existing water supplies available for human use like bathing and drinking.
It’s a rare global health problem that has an obvious individual response, but global water scarcity is one of them.

For women in Kenya’s dry north, water is power.
By Anthony Langat WAJIR, Kenya, June 16 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Sitting a couple of kilometres outside the village of Wajir-bor in northeast Kenya is something quite rare for these dry parts: a small, well-maintained reservoir full of water with a watchman standing guard at the gate.
A dam was constructed here after the Wajir County Assembly passed a climate change act in 2016, one of the first in Kenya, freeing up government funds for projects chosen by local people.
The people of Wajir-bor, 40 km (25 miles) west of the border with Somalia and inhabited mainly by the Degodia clan of the Somali ethnic group, decided on the water pan, which provides water for domestic use and for livestock to drink.
"This dam will be opened for use when the livestock have exhausted water in other dams."
She also works to maintain the fence around the water pan, and prevent people and animals from trespassing.
El-Ben dam is another water project paid for by Wajir´s Climate Change Fund.
"Giraffes are strong and can damage the fence and get into the dam to drink, especially when it is dry," said Hussein.
The El-Ben water users association has already reported the invasions to the Kenya Wildlife Service, asking it to provide water for the wild animals.
Women´s involvement in climate change adaptation committees is a step forward but it is not yet enough, experts say, as they do not yet have equal representation in most cases.

The country’s water crisis remains sarcastic towards addressing waterborne disease with fresh revelation that about 7,000 household in Salima North-West Constituency are wrestling for one borehole.
This is a typical example on how the water crisis has reached in the country after 53 years of the Malawi’s independent The visit to the area during the weekend particularly at Matumba village, Traditional Authority (T.A) Nkhombedza encountered ordeal where women and young girls could wait for six hours to draw water from the borehole.
The borehole which has lived for over decades still remain the hope of the communities despite it’s on and off operation to serve villagers.
The development prompted Water Mission and Christian Services, local faith organization to respond to the crisis by fixing the oldest borehole and planning to drill about five extra towards solving water and sanitation challenges.
Random interview with communities revealed shocking incidences including high school drop outs, early and child marriages, marital fights, escalation of water borne diseases and among others.
Our children go to school around 10:00 am coupled with absent due to water scarcity.
“Even, marriages are in disarray as most us, women, we wake up as early as 3:00am to fetch water which don’t please most husbands.
The lawmaker therefore urged government to increase Community Development Funds (CDF) from MK18 million to MK30 million annually.
With the water crisis hitting hard in most local communities, the best thing is for government to allocate more resources in CDF which will directly meet villagers’ needs including construction of more borehole,” she said.
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California Moves Toward Low-Income Water Subsidy No U.S. state has ever offered a subsidy to help low-income residents pay their water bills, but such programs have been offered for decades for other basic utilities, such as electricity and phone.
Starting June 20, the State Water Resources Control Board will offer a series of public hearings to explain four options and help citizens weigh in.
The process began in 2015 with AB 401, a new state law that directs the water board to develop an affordability program.
How can a subsidy reach them?
“We need to … make sure the ability to access and navigate the program is as simple as possible,” said Jonathan Nelson, policy director at Community Water Center, a nonprofit based in the San Joaquin Valley.
Climate Change Threatens Drinking Water on Mexico Border The U.S. border with Mexico is already known for its water scarcity.
It could drop below their intake and they could be without water for a time period.” Many wells in the region are hand dug because immigrant families brought the knowledge to dig their own wells with them when they left Mexico.
As a result, they are shallow and especially vulnerable to climate swings.
Phoenix Signs Water Conservation Deal with Gila Tribe On Tuesday, the Phoenix City Council unanimously approved a deal with the Gila River Indian Community that will help stem the chronic shrinkage in water levels at Lake Mead.
Cities have leased tribal water in the past but, under this deal, the water will not be used.