Federal Ministry of Water Resources in collaboration with the Federal
Ministry of Health and Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), have
launched the Nigerian Standard for Drinking Water Quality (NSDWQ), which
was approved in 2007. Speaking during the launch of the NSDWQ in Abuja,
minister for Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu, said the standard
sets limits for constituents and water contaminants that are hazardous
to health.
He said the NSDWQ would also provide guides to meeting the
mandatory limits and assigned institutional responsibilities including
enforcement to stakeholders in line with their statutory obligations.
Adamu however observed that much has not been done in respect to
enforcement of the standard with water producers carrying on with
business as usual without regard for the quality of drinking water
supplied to the people.
“In the revised standard which we are
launching today, the Federal Ministry of Water Resources has been
assigned the responsibility of enforcement and we are working
assiduously to speed the process of upgrading the water quality
laboratories located at Lagos, Akure, Kano, Minna, Enugu, and Gombe
alongside the completion of additional six laboratories in Maiduguri,
Sokoto, Makurdi, Umuahia, Asaba and Port Harcourt,” he stated.