Challenges of Urban Water Management in Nigeria: The Way Forward
Adah, P.D. and Abok G.
1&2Department of Urban and Regional Planning,
1The Federal Polytechnic, Idah-Kogi State
2Kaduna Polytechnic, Kaduna State.
E-mail: adahproject@gmail.com, abokgal66@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

As the saying goes “Water is Life’’ one may however reframe it by rather saying “Adequate Safe Water is Life”. This is so because there could be water everywhere but not a single drop to drink or to use for domestic and other purposes due to the unsafe nature of such water. This phenomenon arises due to ineffective water management culture. The gap between water need and supply has widened steadily in Nigeria’s urban centre despite continuous efforts made to develop the nation’s vast surface and groundwater resources. Acute water shortages afflict the inhabitants of the towns and cities. The paper revealed that the challenges facing water management in the country include; Lack of effective compliance to policies, weak data base, fragmented responsibility, climate change, poor state of infrastructure, cost intensive, corruption, rapid urbanization, and low rate of costs recovery as the bulk
of available water supply is unmetered and where metered, ridiculously low rates are charged. Thus; in order to ameliorate these challenges;recommendations were made as the way forward to achieving sustainable water management. There is need for total compliance to water management policies (both local and international), encourage stakeholder participation, Enforcement of existing laws and Regulatory responsibilities. There is also a great need for management policy that aims at financial viability and economic efficiency. More realistic water
rates should be charged in order to raise the much-needed revenue to meet increasing production and distribution costs.