Water scarcity makes living difficult exercise for Ondo varsity students

Students resident in Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State, the host community of Adekunle Ajasin University, are lamenting water scarcity which has made living a difficult exercise for them

On any visit to the community, students could be seen walking a long distance with their buckets to get water which conspicuously has dirt particles. One source of this water is a borehole, resource of which is even too limited for the number of users. Another source is deep well far removed from students’ residences.

“The rate at which shortage of water is hitting this community is very alarming,” a student of Mass Communication, Boluwaji Emmanuel. “I and my hall mates have to wake up as early as 5 a.m because of our 7 a.m lecture. Each time we get to the borehole, it will be crowded already and we will still be struggling to fetch the coloured water.

“We even have to walk kilometres away from our hall of residence to get water only to discover that the well is dried. This scarcity is really affecting our academic activities and health because this dirty water is what we drink and use to cook,” Mr Emmanuel lamented.

Toluwalope Adebayo, a 200level student added that the scarcity has been making her stay in the community unbearable.

She said: “Scarcity of water is making my stay here unbearable. I have to wake up around 5 a.m to rush to well and on getting there, buckets are already waiting. By the time we queue and fetch, the water would have changed colour; the well will also get dried. It is painful and the government needs to intervene.”

Adagba Promise, who is a newly admitted student, stated that heavy rain in the community would end up polluting the well, making it coloured.

“We are used to managing the rainwater but each time it rains, the well is always affected,’ said Mr Promise. “The water in the well gets polluted and unsafe for consumption.”