The President and Chairman of Council of Nigerian Institute of Production Management (NIPM), Dr Olaniyi Opanuga has said the producers of drinking water in the country should ensure that appropriate laws, regulations and standards are followed in order to protect public health. “According to Dr Opanuga, the goals of the launching of Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water Quality by the Federal Government last year are laudable and must be supported by all stakeholders”. He also enjoined public officers responsible for monitoring and enforcing water quality, sanitation, hygiene, public health and environmental standards to intensify surveillance.

Dr. Opanuga made this remark at a Workshop on Water Treatment and Pollution Control in Lagos recently. “Water production should not be seeing as a simple process that does not require education and training. The practice whereby water is packaged anyhow at the backyard, in a living room or in a shop is unacceptable. Some water producers rely on deepwell and public water taps without appropriate storage, treatment and distribution systems. Water vendors are seeing all over the place, in towns and cities exposing drinking water to all sorts of atmospheric conditions and contaminants” he said.

“The efforts of business and humanitarian organizations who sink boreholes in various communities are commendable because lack of adequate quality drinking water can jeopardize public health in many ways”.

“God has been so kind to us in this country. We are blessed with ubiquitous natural sources of water such as adequate rainfall, rivers and lakes. We can have access to deep or shallow wells. The travesty lies in the way some irresponsible organizations treat people and communities with contempt in many parts of the country, especially in the oil producing areas and places close to industrial areas, by dumping their wastes indiscriminately and polluting land and water in the process”.

“As the professional body responsible for the regulation of practice of production and operations management in Nigeria we are concerned about the standards for water quality as well as the protection of the environment in which production takes place”, he said. “Persons who manage water systems in organizations should know what the parameters are so that they don’t exceed the maximum allowable limits. In the same vein, there are laws, regulations and guidelines on environmental standards which HSE/SHE managers should be familiar with. Compliance is key in ensuring proper sanitation, adequate treatment of effluents and lawful disposal of industrial wastes” he said.

“At the domestic level, it is common practice that home owners sink borehole or construct well and the people dump waste indiscriminately with short-term and long-term implications. These are part of the problems of underdevelopment” he added.