Bob Anikwe writes another story of Iva Valley, a 100-year public water supply scheme, the first in old Eastern Region.
When the name Iva Valley is mentioned in conversation, the mind immediately jumps to coal mines and the gruesome massacre of miners in 1949. It therefore comes as a surprise that there is another historical milestone associated with this rustic community in the Coal City. Next year, 2024, it will be 100 years since Europeans built the first public water scheme in Eastern Nigeria. The scheme is located at Iva Valley and is still functional to this day in 2023.
The colonial authorities commissioned the Iva Valley Water Scheme in 1924 to supply clean water to the white men who lived at the Government Reservation Area (GRA) in Enugu. Water is a precious commodity in Enugu because the geology of the city makes it impossible to drill boreholes. Apart from the large expanse of coal which makes water not drinkable when found underground, individuals and businesses hardly hit any aquifer when they try.
The colonial authorities that constructed Iva Scheme therefore opted for water from two streams (called grottos) at Iva Valley. These were later expanded to four but the water they harvested could only serve them in their exclusive habitat.
As the city expanded and developed, government altogether found five functional sources of water supply to Enugu,. Apart from Iva Valley, there were also Ekulu, Owa Ajali, Oji Augmentation, and Ninth Mile Crash Program Water Schemes. Together, they had production capacity of over 160,000m3 per day, more than enough to supply all the water needs of Enugu today, despite its population. With a current estimated population of over 840,000 as at 2023, the Coal City requires a minimum daily supply of 81,418 cubic meters or 81.42 million litres of water per day – which is only one-half of what the schemes can supply when managed properly.
Trouble was that the schemes never worked at their installed capacity or anywhere near it. As of May 2023, only four of the schemes remain functional after government discontinued the Ekulu Water Scheme . None of these remaining four are currently achieving more than 15 percent of their installed capacity. At the best of times, they can produce a combined 20,000 cubic meters of water per day.
The historical Iva Valley Water Scheme
Known today as Iva Valley Water Scheme, the project came with initial installed capacity of 2,500m3 but was later upgraded to 4,500m3 per day. The upgrade meant that more water got to more sections of the emerging township.
Iva Water Scheme continues to be the most reliable water supply source in Enugu, serving the GRA whenever the bigger schemes at Oji and Ajali fail, as they do through frequent power disruptions and equipment breakdown. Water from Iva Valley was produced through a simple process of sedimentation, filtration and disinfection. Today, however, with infrastructure breakdown, there is no more filtration and disinfections. Its supply is still restricted to the GRA and the earliest built up settlements. The scheme is maintained and continues to function simply because water flow relies on gravity rather than electrical power.
Ekulu Water Scheme
To ensure that the rest of the city population had water, the colonial authorities added a second city water scheme, this time generated from the Ekulu River. The two schemes (Iva Valley and Ekulu) took care of the water supply needs of Enugu township, up until the Civil War broke out in 1967.
Population explosion, added to expansion into new districts and estates, as well as mismanagement of the two schemes led to increasing water shortages in Enugu from the late 1970s. The East Central State government made the decision to construct a bigger water scheme at Ajali River, almost 40 kilometers from Enugu.
With the coming of Ajali Water, government decided to abandon the Ekulu Scheme. Engineers advised discontinuation because of its excessive production cost and low water yield.
Ajali, the flagship water scheme
The Ajali Scheme is the flagship water project for supply of water to the rest of Enugu metropolis. It was commissioned in December 1985 with maximum water pumping capacity of 77,000m3 per day. However, it does not deliver this capacity. A 1998 rehabilitation managed to achieve 56,000m3 while a further rehabilitation in 2013 enabled it to operate at about 60% of its installed capacity.
The federal government came to Enugu’s City’s assistance by constructing the Oji River Water Supply Scheme, a borehole water supply project. This scheme abstracts ground water from the Oji River with, filtered through a treatment plant. The output is propelled by booster stations and a 21.5km steel pipeline from the station to twin tanks along the Ajali transmission grid at Nsude. The Oji River Water scheme has installed capacity of 50,000m3 per day.
With population explosion and having made the decision to construct Ajali, the military government commissioned the Ninth Mile Water Supply Crash Program Water Scheme in 1982. Ninth mile was designed as an emergency scheme to augment water coming from Iva Valley and Ekulu Rivers. It has 12 boreholes (later increased to 20) and steel pipes that connected them to the Okwojo Ngwo Reservoir.
Succeeding governments have continued to harvest water from the boreholes and the scheme is now counted as a permanent feature of the strategy to supply water to the Coal City. The most recent is a whopping N600million contract awarded by the immediate past administration. As at last year, the engineer managing the project, said that the rehabilitation is “over 90 percent completed.” The company, Fordmax, will convert 13 of the industrial boreholes to solar power to ensure availability and sustainability. Unstable public power supply is the biggest problem of all the water supply schemes.
A little help from the French
In July 2021, a French agency selected three states (Enugu, Plateau and Ondo) to enjoy a grant that enabled them to overcome their water challenges. The grant came under the Third National Urban Water Sector Reform Project.
The lucky states were among the first three in the nation to successfully implement the first phase of the AFD project. Enugu started implementation during the Chimaroke Nnamani era and completed it in record time during the Sullivan Chime regime. The period of work was between 2004 and 2013.
The French Development Agency (ADF) approved $50 million grant for Enugu State to develop its water supply infrastructure in the Coal City. The grant was also to pipe water to all homes in Enugu, and improve water corporation service to customers.
Unlike previous regimes that speedily implemented their projects, the Ugwuanyi government dragged its feet. As at March 2022, it was only able to draw down €3million with about half of the amount (€1.6million) disbursed.
Gov Peter Mbah relyiing on this grant, promised to make water available to all parts of Enugu within 180 days.
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