Water scarcity looms in FCT, expert warns
2 min read
Residents of the FCT have called on the Minister Nyesom Wike to as a matter of urgency address the imminent water supply shortage being experienced to avert scarcity.
A water expert, Aliyu H. Abubakar, who spoke to journalists, said some challenges facing the FCT Water Board has to do mainly the Water Treatment Plant which is at risk of shutting down over shortage of chemicals needed to treat the raw water supplied from Gurara to Lower Usuma Dam, located in Ushafa, Bwari Area Council of the FCT.
He said the actual non transfer of raw water from Gurara Dam, which hitherto had been done on a monthly basis, has dwindled to once a year, and that “since October 2025 there has been no transfer of potable water, therefore in terms of volume of water, the dam is currently operating at half its capacity”.
Abubakar added that “another tragedy is that water from the Lower Usuma Dam that is meant for the Water Treatment Plants, which are integral to the production and distribution of potable water across Abuja and its environs, is currently being diverted by the SCC, thus reducing the plants required capacity”.
In addition, he said the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), for the first time in history, has pitched the Lower Usuma Dam into darkness due to the what it described as the non-payment of utility bill to it by the FCT Administration, similarly, AEDC has already commenced disconnection of electricity to other critical FCT facilities like the Bwari General Hospital.
“After the electricity supply was disconnected early this year, the FCT Water Board resorted to powering the turbines at the Lower Usuma Dam with two diesel-powered generators but the generators cannot effectively power the turbines, one of which has already packed up, thus reducing the production of potable water to less than 40% presently” he said.
Aliyu H. Abubakar therefore appealed to the FCT Minister to address the problem since water supply is an important part of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and adequate water supply is as essential as good roads.
