Date: 2017-11-08

Federal governmental has been advised to prevent inherent dangers from water pollution by discouraging it through necessary actions.

The Nigerian Association of Hydrogeologists (NAH) which gave the piece of advice, asked the government to create public awareness to make people appreciate issues of climate change, environmental and socio-economic impacts on the management of water resources.

The NAH in a communique signed by its national president, Ehidiamhen Olumese, also enjoined the National Assembly to act fast on passage of the water bill before it into Act saying the Act is urgently needed to strengthen the governance structure in the water sector.

The communique was issued at the end of the 29th conference of the association held in Ilorin with the theme: "Strategies to Achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in water".

The Hydrogeologists, in the communique, observed ,with concern, the effects of environmental contamination and pollution of surface and underground water resources.

They were of the view that there is the need for the government to recognise the effects of climate change on water resources, and the incorporation of such knowledge into various developmental efforts aimed at achieving the SDGs in the water sector.

The association advised the government to institutionalise good governance and best practices in the administration of the several projects in the sector.

It asked for involvement of civil society organisation as monitoring agents in the transparent execution of water resources projects in the country.

The NAH called for training and retraining of hydogeologists and other relevant professionals to acquire appropriate skills in groundwater modelling saying this had become the current trend in sustainable water resource management globally.