Kano govt, Natview Foundation commission water project in Warawa

The people of Yandachi and Dakata communities of Warawa Local Government Area of Kano state will now benefit from improved access to safe drinking water, following the commissioning of the Warawa Living Lab Water Project on Monday.  

 

By Stephen Enoch

 

Dr Kabiru Getso, the Honorable Commissioner for Environment, Kano State, commissioning the Warawa Living Lab Water Project on Monday

 

The Warawa Living Lab Water Project is a collaboration between the Kano State Ministry of Environment, Natview Foundation for Technology and Innovation (NFTI), as well as the Kano Hub of the Global Shapers Community, which seeks to transcend the traditional water supply system through an innovative, cost-effective and technology-driven sustainable water supply system so as to guaranty the supply of portable drinking water to vulnerable communities.

In his keynote address, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje, represented by Dr Kabiru Getso, the Honorable Commissioner for Environment, described the project as an innovative, cost-effective and easy to maintain model of guaranteeing portable water supply to rural communities, adding that the stakeholders would monitor the water usage as well as its corresponding impact on improved sanitation and disease prevention in the beneficiary communities.

Dr Getso thus said the project would help the stakeholders monitor the relationship between reduced travel time in accessing portable drinking water and girl-child school enrolment, social behaviors, population trends, water usage as well as usage patterns.

“The project employs a people’s centred approach to engaging the community at every stage of its implementation, through the community’s water committee. The State Ministry of Environment would assist the community with water storage modalities to ensure effective utilization of the project. This project is in line with the policy thrust of our administration of making portable water available in rural communities for the prevention of diseases, improvement of sanitation and overall socio-economic wellbeing of the people.”

Mr Nuradeen Maidoki, the program director for NFTI said the project was conceptualized by Natview Foundation in partnership with Global Shapers Kano to explore the potential of technology in impacting social behavior in health, education and agriculture, adding that the idea behind the project was providing government with needed data to make policies and decisions regarding the interrelationship between water supply, agriculture and healthcare.

“Before the completion of the Warawa Living Lab Water Project, individuals had to walk several kilometres in search of water which subsequently had a negative impact on education, as most children spent their schooling hours searching for water. Following the completion and commissioning of this project, there will be improvement in education and personal hygiene outcomes in the communities,” Mr Maidoki said.

Amongst others, the Warawa Living Lab Project would monitor trends in health indices such as infant morbidity and mortality resulting from diarrhea and similar water-borne diseases over a period of time. Moreover, the project will observe the interrelationship between reduced travel time for accessing clean water and girl-child school enrolment across the communities.

 

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