The Federal Government is to site a multi-million naira water treatment laboratory in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, for which the state government has pledged a parcel of land for the project.
Minister of Water Resources, Alhaji Mukhtar Shagari, disclosed this at the weekend at the opening ceremony of the 18th Meeting of the National Council on Water Resources at Hotel Presidential, Port Harcourt.
Shagari stated that the water treatment laboratory demonstrates the Federal Government�s conscious effort towards ensuring the availability of clean and well treated water in the country and that it would serve states in the South South geo-political zone.
Declaring the meeting open, the state Deputy Governor, Sir Gabriel Toby, stressed the need for potable water, especially for those in coastal states where the available water was not fit for human consumption.
Toby bemoaned the situation in the coastal states where there was water everywhere but none to drink, adding that the Presidential initiative on drinkable water was timely.
“People need good drinking water and such water must be well treated,” he said.
The deputy governor also commended the Federal Government for its water intervention initiative and appealed for early completion of the Otamiri Rural Water Project expected to supply water to most parts of Rivers State, saying that if completed it would greatly transform the lives of the people.
Earlier in a welcome address, the Commissioner for Water Resources, Mr Lolo Ibieneye, said the Peter Odili administration in the state has demonstrated strong political will in the provision of good drinking water for the people since 1999.
Ibieneye, who enumerated the various people-oriented projects executed by the state government, noted that about 127 communities in the state would benefit from the government�s rural water scheme.