Residents of Karu, a suburb in the Abuja municipal area council, are groaning over the lingering water scarcity in the area in the past three months.

In separate interviews on Monday in Abuja, the residents said the situation was disheartening, especially for those who do not have boreholes or wells in their compound.

According to the FCT Waterboard, water scarcity was due to a damaged pipeline feeding a major water treatment plant in Usuma Dam, Bwari.

The residents, who said that the water scarcity had persisted for over three months, expressed disappointment that they were not warned in time to store water to survive the scarcity.

“Lack of sufficient water has posed a great challenge to me because I now buy water,” said Modester Ngwu, a hair salon owner in Karu village.

She added, “I have never bought water because I have a customer who allows me to fetch water from her house. But with this water scarcity, I now buy water from water vendors, and this is affecting my business.

“This is because customers won’t agree to pay extra money for my services, and this makes it difficult for me to break even.”

Ms Ngwu pleaded with the government to look into the issue urgently because they have been suffering for over three months, and nothing has been done yet.

Gloria Chijioke, a resident, expressed her displeasure over the scarcity and the high cost of water.

Ms Chijioke added that though there was a well in the estate, water from it was not clean enough for cooking.

“l make use of the well water for washing clothes while I use sachet water for cooking and drinking. This has increased my spending tremendously in the last three months,” she said.

Ms Chijioke said she now buys water from water vendors for washing since the well has dried up.

She added that water costs from water vendors have also increased tremendously.

”I used to buy a truck of water of eight or 10 cans for N1,200, but due to an increase in demand, the price has been raised to N2,000,” she said.

Musa Nuhu, a laundry worker at Karu, however, said many of his customers are complaining of the increase in the cost of laundry services, which was also affecting his business.

“We are hardly patronized now because customers are complaining of the increase in prices. We all know how things are now in Nigeria, and coupled with the water scarcity, we have no choice but to increase our prices,” Mr Nuhu said.

(NAN)