The Lagos government has warned residents in Lekki who have drilled boreholes that they risk health challenges because they may have been drinking contaminated water.

The permanent secretary at the Office of Drainage Services and Water Resources in Lagos, Mahmood Adegbite, disclosed this at a stakeholders meeting on Tuesday, following an over 12-hour rainfall on Monday, which led to flooding in parts of Lagos.

Mr Adegbite said, “On wastewater treatment, I will say that everyone digging a borehole within the Lekki axis is probably drinking what I will call ‘shit water’.”

Stressing the need for wastewater treatment to eradicate diseases, he stated that plans are underway by the state government to address the issue, while also acknowledging that more needs to be done to tackle flooding in the state, despite the efforts already undertaken.

He said, “However, if we are able to treat all the wastewater within this axis, which we have plans for, we should be able to also eradicate any form of disease that might result as a result of non-treatment of our waste.

“Yesterday, it rained heavily, which is unusual because this is supposed to be August break. However, we started having it because of a lot of complex issues. Basically, in terms of flooding, despite the fact that we have committed so much, we still need a lot to do in that space.”