Excitement as Community Discovers Water

Ukome Village in Ibeku recently discovered water after many years of unbearable hardship. Charles Ajunwa and Emmanuel Ugwu-Nwogo write on how this jinx was broken

For years several attempts made by government and private individuals to sink borehole in Ukome village did not yield water. The search for underground water in this agrarian village located in Umuahia North local government of Abia State was so difficult and frustrating that everybody appeared to have given up the search for water.

Yet the thirst for underground water from their land remained strong. They could not understand why water that nature has stored beneath their soil could not be reached to quench their thirst. The Ukome villagers said that over the years they had been made to believe that borehole drilling would never yield water in their area. More so “experts” had tried without success and handed down the discouraging verdict that underground water was beyond reach. The people resigned to their fate. “Some of our people had tried to sink boreholes but did not succeed in finding water,” said Israel Eluwa, the secretary of Ukome Development Union. According to him, the process of drilling the borehole some of the contractors “abandoned their equipment and ran away” after the machines developed problems.

With no public water supply and no borehole the villagers depended on alternative means of water supply. Those who could afford bought plastic tanks of various capacities and paid for tankers that supply them water. Others had to contend with the difficulty of trekking a long distance with bad terrain to reach a spring far away. However, the youth leader of the community, Chimezie Eluwa noted that the available sources of water were not only difficult to access but in most cases the water is not fit for drinking. He said: “The villagers trekked long distance to a place where water comes out from the rock. The villagers’ another source of water is the farm well dug during the colonial period. The water from the farm well is dirty and not drinkable. We also ask tanker drivers to supply us water especially for those that can afford it. But with this borehole from Ochendo the community is relieved of the burden of the scarcity of water which bites so hard.”

Indeed, the topography of Ukome did not help matters. The village sits on a high plain with undulating valleys all-around. The valleys covered with thick vegetation and frightening depths make them largely inaccessible. Though the valleys are covered in lush vegetation rising and falling in conformity to the contours of the land. The rather captivating scenery has the potential of becoming a tourist haven if developed for that purpose.

With the construction of a primary health centre by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) the search for solution to the water problem of Ukome was given a new impetus. The healthcare facility attracted by the Senator representing Abia Central in the National Assembly, Senator Theodore Orji, needed regular water supply to function effectively. Chief liaison officer to the Abia Central Senator, Mr. Ifeanyi Umere, said that though “everybody had gone to bed with the notion that water cannot be found in Ukome” there was still a compelling need to further explore the possibility.

According to Umere, Senator Orji had insisted that every modern technology available to man should be deployed to make sure that the purpose of finding water here is achieved because this is a Primary Health Centre and you cannot have a Primary Health Centre function without water. He said that he ran with the marching order from the former governor and frantically searched for people that have the equipment that could bring out water from the difficult landscape of Ukome. “I had to be exceptionally adventurous that we find a way out of that problem to make history. Luckily enough we found a foreign-based firm that brought the much needed technology that broke this jinx,” he said.

According to the chief liaison officer, the foreign contractors with the appropriate technology set to work and struck water after drilling for over 260 metres deep. “Today, we have found water in Ukome Village in Umuahia North local government in Abia Central courtesy of the doggedness of the Distinguished Senator,” Umere declared triumphantly. He noted that in normal situations water could be reached at depths between 110 and 120 metres but drilling a borehole in Ukome was not an ordinary task because of the nature of the land. He said that they went to that unusual depth in search of water because Senator Orji had insisted that there must be a way out when he was told that search for water in Ukome had been fruitless in the past.

The news that a borehole was successfully drilled with good water gushing out to the surface was received with ecstasy. “This water project is a dream come-true. I’m overwhelmed seeing this water project happening in my community. In the past, we tried to drill a borehole in my community but to no avail. Today, i’m very happy and I thank Ochendo for giving us this borehole in our community,” the youth leader said. Chimezie, who said that he was “physically present when they were drilling this borehole” had watched with bated breath, given the failure of similar projects in the past. “I was amazed when water came out from the borehole something we were told can never happen,” he said. “In fact, the whole thing was like a miracle to me and others couldn’t believe it. The villagers were excited when they received the news.”

The woman leader of Ukome community, Mrs. Beatrice Peters Ogbonna said that it was a big relief that “water has now been found in Ukome because in the past we were told that water cannot be found here.” She said that it has always been a harrowing experience for women over the years as they searched for water for domestic use. “Many women have been disfigured carrying water up and down the hill,” she lamented. She expressed profound gratitude to the Abia Central Senator for the twin projects of water and health centre which were among the major needs of the agrarian community. The community leader, Chief Austin Ukonu was equally grateful to Senator Orji for the water project. “We have been praying for this type of project. We are farmers and our needs are water and roads,” he said, adding that reticulation of the water would make it generally beneficial to most people in the community.

Apart from the health centre. the Migrant Farmers Nursery and Primary School, Ukome, is also an immediate beneficiary of the newly found water. The school shares fence with the health centre both facilities sitting in the valley on the edge of the community. The Assistant Headmistress of the schools. Deborah Nwahiri said the water project has come as a big relief to the pupils and teachers because of the difficulties of bringing water to the school. “W are very happy that our Big Daddy (Senator Orji) has drilled borehole here,” she said. “We are happy because it’s going to help these children maintain hygienic environment as they can now readily wash their hands especially during this COVID-19 pandemic.” According to the assistant head teacher, “we have been suffering so much to get water here.” As a way out of the problem, Nwahiri said she was always bringing water to school all the way from Ahia Eke where she resides. Once the supply is exhausted it becomes impossible to replenish because “immediately we are in here you cannot go out or send the pupils out in search of water” trekking over one kilometre. She therefore expressed gratitude to Senator Orji “for wiping away our tears” with the water project.

Perhaps the euphoria in Ukome over the borehole would not have come to light if Senator Orji had heeded the expert advice. Umere recalled that Senator Orji actually got a brief from the water authority in Abia that from their geophysics (findings) it’s impossible to get water here, that there are other villages in Ibeku clan that you cannot find water. But, the Abia Central Senator, according to Umere, refused to take the expert advice which would have foreclosed what has turned out to be a successful venture. He said that Senator Orji’s perseverance and passion for the welfare of his constituents eventually paid off. “For us, it’s a record breaking venture courtesy of the determination of His Excellency, Senator T.A.Orji and his love for his people,” the chief liaison officer said. He further described it as “history making because we have broken a jinx” with the borehole.

Now that water has started gushing out from underground, the next step is taking it from the area where the health centre is located to other parts of the village for maximum impact. Umere said that the reticulation was the next stage in the process of solving Ukome’s water problem. “We are going to reticulate the water to the village so that the villagers will not put pressure on the Primary Health Centre,” he assured. He stated that the Abia Central Senator would stop at nothing to ensure the full completion of the water project to bring happiness to the people that gave him mandate to be in the Senate for the second term running.
“Ochendo is legendary for being passionate and compassionate and those who know him can attest to this. He is always emotional about the welfare of his people and he has been known as a man of fidelity and when you are a man of fidelity and honour you delight your people,” Umere said. “It’s that process of delighting his people that made him insist that as long as man exists that there must be a way out. Even in the Sahel if the camel could still find one pint of water so we compared it here with the Sahel and we have broken the jinx.”

The successful sinking of borehole at Ukome is good news to other villages in Ibeku clan that share the same fate of having been classified as “impossible” area to find water. Those villages could expect that the same “miracle” would be performed in their areas with the same technology that worked at Ukome. Though the technology is said to be expensive, Umere said that the high cost “cannot be compared with the happiness of the people” when they get accessible potable water to drink and use for other purposes.

“Having broken this jinx means that we can now deploy this technology to every community in Ibeku Ancient Kingdom that have no water, having discovered the secret,” Umere said. He regretted that people had been suffering with no potable water to drink because of “primitive technology in the past that gave negative results”, adding that with new technology everything is possible and water can be be provided everywhere. “Every community in Ibeku now should expect that after reticulating here, we are going to make sure that every Ibeku village gets water having gotten this technology down here at Ukome,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Ukome villagers continue to relish their new source of water supply, hoping and waiting for the provision of other amenities. For the Ukome community, the finding of water here is like the discovery of oil,” Umere noted. The feeling here is that the hitherto impossible situation has been made possible.