Coastal communities, water bodies yet none to drink.
By Steve Ovirih.
Water is essential for sustainable existence among humans, hence the saying, ‘ no water no life.’ Thus littoral states and coastal communities are always very lucky that they are blessed with water bodies beneath their soil and coastal waters on the shores of their community.
However, nothwhistanding the water bodies in some coastal communities as in Ondo State , the water bodies have environmental and chemical challenges that have made the owners of the water bodies to be at disadvantage over their natural resource which the flowing water is.
While there are nations of the world that do not have one single water body and have to survive on tech – inclined improvised water supply, the over concentration of natural salt in the water bodies of the coastal communities of Ondo State have posed a challenge to water consumption in the area and to make the matter worse, climate change has impacted natural life across the coastal communities negatively with ocean incursion decimating natural life in communities such as Ayetoro, Awoye, Moghoen and many more, which over the years have been crying to government for redemption.
It is painful to see communities where water flows beneath the earth crust having to move water from the upland for drinking and other basic uses. Worse still, in some communities where alternative water provision arrangement is made, water incursion has drifted sodium sulfate from the ocean to this water structure. Oil spillage and ammonia have made the coastal water bodies toxic for residents while pollution has not helped either. Fishing and farming activities have been terribly affected in this area and this ecological challenge with climate change require that all water body communities and stakeholders come together to chart the way forward out of this natural challenge.
