WATER SUPPLY PROBLEM IN ZARIA

There are two piped water supplies in Zaria: one is operated by the Kaduna State Water Board and the second by the Ahmadu Bello University. Both, like in many other towns of northern Nigeria, do not function to the sat­ isfaction of water consumers. To reduce dependence of Zaria residents on the often-dry taps of piped water schemes. State and Local Governments embarked at drilling boreholes, as sources of water supplementary to the piped water. Drilling boreholes solved some problems but at the same time created others. Very often a borehole creates around itself a drawdown cone, thus drying up nearby hand-dug wells. This is a vicious circle: drilling new boreholes may not reduce urban water shortage. Neither sinking new hand-dug wells by water consumers in their compounds is of much relief because many hand-dug wells dry up during the dry season. The paper con­ cludes that a borehole or a hand-dug well is a viable option in rural water supply but as supplements to an urban piped water system they are not recommended. Drilling boreholes as supplement to piped water schemes did not address the reasons of inadequate piped water supply. It is the conclusion of this paper that at source there is enough water in Zaria to meet the water demand but dry taps are caused by underutilization of the both piped water supply schemes. To improve on their efficiency, is the line of argument in this paper, overhead tanks and valves must be reactivated, water demand must be calculated, and water supplied and consumed must be meas­ ured, both at the waterworks and at the household. In other words, a Water Resources Management Plan must be drawn. Then, boreholes and open wells as a supplement to the surface water will not be needed.