What a Mess! People Living In Highbrow Areas of Lagos May Be Drinking "Shit Water"

In a country where there is a wide gulf between the rich and middle class, living in highbrow areas like Lekki, Ikoyi and Victoria Island in Lagos is a sign of better life. The belief of many residents of the Lagos mainland is that those in these parts of the city are living large. This is more reinforced by the fact that the crème de la crème of the country have their homes in these places.

But it is interesting to note that, “A lot of houses in areas like Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki are polluting the water table. Those areas are not supposed to put in place septic tanks. In some of these areas, before you dig five feet, you have reached the water table.
"Now, imagine going to such places to put in place septic tanks which are constructed in such a way that the waste seeps into the ground. They are simply soiling the water table."

Ordinarily, if one is to suddenly relocate from the mainland to either Ikoyi, Lekki, the belief is that providence has suddenly smiled on such individual. But living in these areas has its downside as Punch has learnt.

A new finding has revealed that residents who use water from boreholes constructed within their compounds in these areas might unknowingly be drinking or using water contaminated with their own human wastes.

Punch was on a finding mission on the impact of human waste disposal in the Lagos Lagoon when the fact came to light that the construction of septic tanks in these highbrow parts of Lagos was not a good idea.

The Coordinator of the Lagos State Wastewater Office, Mr. Lekan Shodeinde, said the water table in these areas was too shallow, which is why the construction of both septic and borehole in the same compound is a dangerous affair.

Shodeinde said, "These areas are supposed to have a centralised wastewater treatment where the effluent emanating from households passes for treatment.”

This is the practice in many developed countries where centralised sewers are put in place to cater for the management of human wastes generated from each home.

Punch also spoke with a bricklayer, who explained that a standard septic tank could be as deep as 10 feet. Considering that the water table in these coastal areas is comparatively shallow, it's possible for contamination to occur in groundwater sources in some of the places.
If you are living in any of these highbrow areas, be careful with the kind of water you take in. #ShitThinz