FG adopts eco-hydrological innovations to manage water resources

The National Water Resources Institute (NWRI) has said it will adopt eco-hydrological solutions and innovations to manage the nation’s water resources potential.

Speaking Tuesday in Abuja during the opening ceremony of a 3-day workshop on the Implementation of Integrated and Holistic Eco-hydrological Approaches for Improved Water Management in West Africa, which the institute organised, in partnership with UNESCO, the Director-General of NWRI, Prof. Emmanuel Adanu, said Jabi Lake in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has been selected as the first eco-hydrology demonstration sites.

He said the approach uses simple solutions toward addressing the challenges in the water resources sector, urging all stakeholders should embrace it.

Adanu, however, called for the support of all stakeholders in its implementation, saying bureaucracies in establishments would not do the country any good.

Speaking earlier, the Minister of Water Resources, Mr Suleiman Adamu, who represented by Director, River Basin Operations and Inspectorate, Mr John Ochigbo, the said water was an important resource to life’s sustenance and for economic developments.

Adamu said, as the population expands, the need for water is increasing, with many environmental pollutions threatening the country’s water resources, adding that discharges from industries and homes into the lake was abusive, hence the need to clean them up and for them to be more beneficial.

He said: “Jabi Lake has been approved by UNESCO as a demonstration site for eco-hydrology, and the ministry is here to support the UNESCO office towards the development of this center.”