Lagosians and the Search for Sustainable Water

In Lekki, one of Lagos State’s affluent districts, residents are unsettled by a recent disclosure from Mahmood Adegbite, Permanent Secretary in the Office of Drainage Services and Water Resources. He warned that many boreholes in the area are likely delivering water tainted with human waste.

Adegbite’s caution was blunt: untreated wastewater in Lekki has seeped into the groundwater, exposing residents to serious health risks. If the state manages to fully treat all wastewater in the axis as planned, he said, waterborne diseases linked to the contamination could be eliminated.

His statement was as much a health alert as it was an indictment of government failure. Without reliable public water supply, residents have turned to boreholes unwittingly drilling into polluted aquifers.

This was not always the case. Under Governor Babatunde Fashola, the Badore Mini-Water Works was built to supply potable water to Lekki and nearby communities. If that facility was functional, how did the area end up relying so heavily on boreholes?

Lagos, a coastal megacity, finds itself in the ironic position of being surrounded by water yet unable to guarantee clean drinking water for its people. Once served adequately by a public water system launched in 1910 and efficient up to the 1970s, the state’s infrastructure has since collapsed under the weight of rapid population growth and poor maintenance.

Adegbite’s remarks echoed Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s 2024 admission at the Lagos Water Conference: despite substantial spending on capacity building, development partnerships, and stakeholder engagement, the water sector has yielded little tangible improvement. The governor acknowledged that the Lagos State Water Corporation had failed to harness resources effectively or develop solutions to meet demand.

Sanwo-Olu pledged reforms through public-private partnerships, stricter regulation, and operational upgrades. But promises without action have little impact especially in a state where a cholera outbreak last year claimed 29 lives. That tragedy, which could have prompted urgent reforms, instead faded without the systemic changes needed to prevent another.

With Lagos’s population surpassing 20 million, roughly eight million residents 40 per cent still lack access to safe water, according to Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa. WaterAid estimates that building a sustainable water system for Lagos would require N300 billion annually. The Hague Academy for Local Governance reports that Lagos needs 650 million gallons daily but produces only about a third of that volume.

Even with major facilities like Adiyan, Iju, and 51 micro and mini waterworks, supply still falls far short of demand. Environmental management adds another layer to the crisis. Just recently, the government shut down Myca 7 Court in Van Daniel Estate, Lekki, for discharging sewage into public drains—evidence of persistent sanitation lapses.

There are global models Lagos could adapt. Israel and Oman have invested heavily in desalination and wastewater recycling to secure water supplies. Israel recycles 86 per cent of its treated wastewater, mostly for agriculture, and runs five large seawater reverse osmosis plants that meet 85 per cent of its domestic urban demand.

Adopting such strategies modernising existing waterworks, building new treatment plants, recycling wastewater, and exploring desalination could transform Lagos’s water landscape.

With political will, smart investment, and a focus on both quality and quantity, the city could finally turn the tide on its long-standing water crisis and deliver the most basic of public services: Clean, safe drinking water.