TIPS FOR GETTING CLEAN WATER

It is crucial to ensure that water is suitable for drinking and cooking, especially for those of us in Nigeria who obtain our water from underground boreholes. We must take action to guarantee that our borehole water is pure and safe due to pollution, chemical runoff from farmland, and inappropriate trash disposal.

The first thing is to get your borehole water tested regularly.To test your water for toxins like lead, germs, nitrates, and other undesirable substances, you may either obtain inexpensive testing kits or bring samples to the public health office. It is essential to know what is in your water.

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Once you understand the state of your supply, there are some good options for treatment that don't have to cost the world:

Getting a Water Filter
Even a simple countertop filter can remove a lot of the dirt, germs and chemicals that make borehole water unsafe. The ones with ceramic or composite filters are best for removing bacteria and viruses.

Using Water Guard or Tablets
Those small Water Guard dissolvable tablets or liquid chlorine solution bottles can be an affordable way to disinfect your borehole water and kill disease-causing microbes.

Trying Solar Disinfection
This one is very cheap - just expose your water in transparent bottles to the sunlight for at least 6 hours. The UV rays from the sun will inactivate a lot of the harmful pathogens.

Boiling the Water
The old practice of boiling your borehole water for at least 1 minute and allowing it to cool will kill most waterborne germs and is a sure way to make it safer when nothing else is available.

Beyond treatment, make sure to keep your borehole covered and sealed, and fix any cracks or entry points for runoff and contaminants. Regularly disinfect the well lining and area around it too.

When it comes time to dig a new borehole,Position it away from potential contamination sources like pit latrines, farms using manure, and garbage pits. Going deeper is also better to tap into purer groundwater sources.

Getting clean, safe water from our local boreholes takes effort, but it's an investment we all need to make for our families' health. With simple, affordable methods like filtration, disinfection, good maintenance and positioning, we can ensure our borehole supplies give us the quality water we deserve long into the future.

So let's be proactive about testing and treating our borehole sources. That way, we can avoid the hospital trips and keep enjoying clean, healthy water from the earth's natural bounty. It's a goal worth working towards for our communities. With simple and affordable methods like filtration, disinfection, good maintenance and smart positioning of new boreholes, we can ensure our precious groundwater supplies remain pure and safe for drinking, cooking and bathing. Taking these precautions is an investment in our health and future. When we make an effort to understand and properly treat our borehole water, we are protecting ourselves and our families from potential illnesses and devastating health issues caused by waterborne contaminants. It allows us to take advantage of Nigeria's natural groundwater resources without fear. With diligence, we can make clean borehole water a reality in every community.