…Contaminated Water Deadlier Than Soot – Commissioner
The Rivers State Commissioner for Water Resources, Dr. Tamunosisi Gogo Jaja has warned consumers of bottled and sachet waters to be mindful of what they take as some contain elements of high microbiology.
The Commissioner who gave the warning in Port Harcourt on Monday, while elaborating on the list of 95 table waters approved for consumption by his Ministry, said contaminated waters had the potency to kill human beings like the black soot emitted by hydrocarbon substances.
He said the Ministry came to the findings after a thorough analysis and hydrocarbon tests of1998 samples obtained from different bottled and sachet waters from water producers in the state.
“People should not just be looking at black soot or alcohol as the only elements that are attacking our organs and stuff.
“It’s a salient area a lot of people ignore, but there are activities that are more dangerous to human health more than black soot.
“If you take a look at our analysis, the results showed that there are finished products that had high microbiology. Microbial elements in the finished products indicate the presence of decomposed corpses, human and animal faeces (toilets) human and decomposed animals.
“The problem is that if we discovered this in a raw water, it would have been a different thing. But we are talking about finished products – bottled and sachet water.
“In other words, when the unsuspecting consumer buys, what you are drinking is element of high microbiology.
“Imagine drinking human faeces or decomposed corpses. If we didn’t run these tests, we wouldn’t know”, he said.
Dr. Tamunosisi Gogi Jaja affirmed that the 95 approved table waters are safe for consumption, adding that the Ministry split the waters into four categories of A, B, C and D, accordingly to the purpose of usage.
The Water Resources Commissioner while appealing to consumers to leverage on this categorization to make the best choice of water they consume, thanked Governor Nyesom Wike for his vision and drive, adding that the governor insisted that the Ministry must take every measure to ensure a clean and healthy drinking water for Rivers people.
He advised to go the extra mile by downloading the soft copy of the approved list into their phones for easy reference.
“Since the Ministry finished this project, I drank ‘pure water’ for the first time. Before now, I used to feel that ‘water na water’. Now when I want to drink, I take a look at the list on my phone and go for those which fall under category A”.
The Commissioner however stated that the categorization may not be permanent, as the standards may reduce owing to factors such as exposing table waters to sunlight.
