Experiences with access to clean water

Building
1

Khadija
Has water flowing in at home. She sometimes drinks it, but mostly buys 3 18ltr-bottles monthly, which cost N800 each.
Her parents’ house has water flowing in. They have borehole and they drink from it.

Esther
She has to leave her compound to fetch water. She pays N20 for 20lts. She fetches 5 of those and it lasts 3 days for her if she’s not doing laundry. She uses about 3 extra if she has laundry to do.
She has to boil it before she can drink it.

There’s a house that she can fetch clean, drinkable water for free but it’s far. She will rather pay at the closer location she fetches from.
In her village they have a well they fetch from. The well dries up between March and April, during which they will have to go to the river. There are many pumps in the village but they are always getting spoilt.

Grace
Currently, she has water flowing in her house which she uses for cooking, laundry and cleaning. She spends about 4k on drinking water monthly.

In a previous accommodation, she used to spend N600 for 360ltrs from ‘mai ruwa’. It may last a week or so. It wasn’t fit for drinking especially because of the state of the containers the water was carried in.

In the house she grew up in, they had 2 wells they fetched water from. They used to boil and filter the water before drinking. When she and her siblings grew up and left the house, her father had no choice but to fix a pump to get water flowing into the house.

Ella
They buy water from ‘mai ruwa’. They have a large household, so it’s difficult to tell how much is spent on water. They buy whenever it is finished. They buy satchet water for drinking. 10 bags may last 3 days. A bag costs N300.

Her parents’ house has running water from water board. Whenever water isn’t flowing, they buy from ‘mai ruwa’ to fill every available bucket and big bowl.

Mary
Growing up, they had water flowing in the tap from waterboard. The water was rationed, a few days on, a few days off. They used to boil the water, store in bottles in the fridge. They used to store water in tanks and drums. This is where they fall back on when the water is not flowing.

In the village, they had water pumps to pump water, but since there wasn’t always power supply to pump water, they would have to fetch water from the well.

While in the university, the private dormitory she stayed in always had water flowing. She used to buy satchet water. After school, the estate she stayed in had running water. The water was dirty and had particles.

1 Like
2

Nice one @Debbie, nice one. Are you beginning to see whether water is a problem or no?

:clap:t5: :clap:t5: :clap:t5:

You’d need to dig in a bit deeper, from the responses, there is still more info left to know. Like:

What did they now do? Where they using the water like that? How did they manage? Is the water still dirty?

Think and contemplate about their stories, be curious. By contemplating I mean:

image
image1170×890 72.2 KB

Try to figure out the full story and understand what is happening completely in their experience.

Taking a look at the other shared experiences;

How were they getting the mai ruwa? Was it easy? Was it hard? Were there days when there wasn’t mai ruwa? How did they cope? Dig in some more.

I see they bought drinking water here, but for this mai ruwa water, were they satisfied with what they got for cooking? Or were they just managing it? Not asking directly, but try to find out if they ever wanted more.

Do this for all of them and dig in deeper. Then you’ll start to see and know whether access to clean water is a problem or not and how people are coping. And by knowing how they are coping it becomes easier to know how tech can make that coping mechanism easier for them.

3

Good morning. Oh ok, I see what you mean. Layers and layers of unfolding insights. I’ll give an update

1 Like
4

Exactly!

Looking forward to this. :slightly_smiling_face:

5

Tomiwa: The water in her area is very bad; she can’t use it for any domestic or personal use, so she buys water from her reservoir—seven thousand naira worth of water which can last her up to 3 weeks or sometimes four weeks depending on how she uses the water. She uses the water for washing and bathing. However, she buys water separately to cook and to drink because the reservoir water is not healthy. So she buys like 5 bags which can last for a week and some days depending on how she uses the water. She doesn’t also trust the sachet of water but that is the cheapest option she can get.

Dolapo: She fetches water from the table water company close to her house to cook, and she fetches water from the well for washing and bathing. She buys water to drink as well because she cannot drink the well water, and the water from the table water company is strictly for cooking. When she is not able to get water, she cooks with pure water, but that is quite expensive for her. She buys 2 bags of pure water, which can last her a week or less, depending on her usage and consumption.

Williams: There is a water pump in his house that he uses for cooking, washing and bathing, but he buys big Eva bottle of water to drink on a daily basis. He buys the big-size table water in retail because he is at work most of the time during the week, and on weekends, he buys like 3 to use during the weekend when he is around.

Rita: is a copper, her lodge does not have a steady water supply that runs from the tap in her apartment, so she has a big drum inside the house that helps her store water whenever there is water in the house. When that finishes and there is no water, she buys Maruwa 10 jerricans of 25 litres for N500. That can last her up to a week depending on the usage but she buys 1 bag of water every 3 days as she consumes water a lot.

Olamide: He pays someone N500 to help him fill up his big drums and sometimes when he feels generous, he gives the woman an extra tip to get lunch or dinner depending on her. He uses the water for cooking, bathing and washing but he buys 2 bags of pure water every 3 days because he cooks and drinks from the pure water.

1 Like
6

Nice nice! You’ll still need to dig in deeper though @Fehintola, did you read my reply to Debbie as I mentioned in Slack? Here are some questions to dig in with:

How were they calling and getting the mairuwa? Were there days the mairuwa wouldn’t come or be available? Were there days they couldn’t get any water from their usual sources they listed? Or did it always work out like this? (I doubt this though as things don’t always work out, so find out)

How were they buying the water for drinking? Was it easy or hard for them? Were the shops close by or far away?

7

Blessing Wasini

She has access to water flowing directly from the compound borehole into her home. She doesn’t drink it and buys satchet water monthly which costs N2,000 per dozen. The water is clean for drinking but she prefers to take the satchet water because she doesn’t know if the water reservoir is clean.
As long as she can remember, she only had issues getting water during her stay in the village (before moving to the city) and they relied on going to the river and rainfall. Her water experience at the previous places she stayed wasn’t pleasant because she sometimes relied on buying water and other alternatives sources like well and rainfall.
She’s certain of the cleanliness of the water she’s currently getting because she cooks, bathes, wash and does other basic things with it.

Tare
She has daily access to clean water in her home via the compound borehole. She doesn’t drink it because the reservoir isn’t clean enough for drinking. She has the water dispenser and mostly buys 3 C-way bottle water monthly for N1,200 each.
She only had issues getting water when she was in school. The university authorities didn’t make adequate provisions for clean water and so, they relied on different alternatives like rainfall, and buying water for daily usage. When she was also serving as a corper, she had issues accessing clean water because she was posted to a community that didn’t have borehole for water supply.
Her experience at the previous places she stayed wasn’t pleasant as she mostly buys water with kegs for the daily personal use like cooking, washing and bathing. It mostly costs her about N5000 or more to get clean water for use monthly.

Josephine
She fetches water daily from a neighbor opposite her house for personal use but buys the satchet water separately for drinking - that’s about N2,000 for a dozen to last her up to a month sometimes. She is certain of the cleanliness of the water she currently gets from the borehole to be used for cooking, bathing and washing only.
She has always had issues getting water in her community while growing up as they relied on well and rainfall. Even the borehole built by the community leader stopped working after sometime and they went back to the old ways of getting water.
Her experience at the previous places she stayed relied solely on buying water with wheelbarrow at a distant places to get clean water.

Iyobo Evans
She has access to water for use daily via the compound borehole. It is clean for domestic purpose but she prefers to buy drinking water separately. It costs her N3,500 monthly for bottle water or more sometimes.
She remembers having issues getting water while growing up when they relied on the water board supply and rainfall. They usually boil the water using firewood before drinking. Her experience at the previous places she stayed wasn’t nice as they relied on buying water most times for daily personal use.
She’s certain of the cleanliness of the water she currently gets because its easily accessible from the borehole but not safe for drinking.

Davidba Charles
Her compound borehole is spoilt and they’ve all relied on buying water from a seller close by for daily domestic use (cooking, washing and bathing). It’s clean but not safe for drinking. It costs her N500 weekly for daily use and N1,500 for satchet water for drinking.
She has never had issues accessing water as long as she can remember. There was borehole in her hostel while in the university and she served in the Army Barracks during her NYSC, which had constant water supply from a borehole as well.
Although, she also relied on buying satchet and bottle water for drinking.
She’s never had any bad experience accessing water at the previous places she stayed as there’s always borehole in the compound for supply.
She is certain of the cleanliness of the water she currently gets from the borehole is good for domestic purpose only and not safe for drinking.

1 Like
8

Ann: She has not really had issues accessing clean water, when she stayed in Lagos she and her siblings had to wake up at 5:00am to fetch water from the mosque beside them. This water is used for washing and bathing only, for drinking they would buy 5 bags of sachet water it cost 1000 naira which last for a week and for cooking they would fetch from a borehole not far from the house which cost 10 naira per 20 litres, but right now there is a borehole in the compound but they still buy sachet water for drinking because she thinks the borehole water is not 100% clean due to the fact that they haven’t washed the tank. When she stayed in Uyo she used borehole water to cook and wash and for drinking she got sachet or bottle water which cost 250 naira. The one time she had an issue accessing water was when there was a blackout in the state, she had to wake up by 5:00am to queue in order for her to fetch water for free from a church.

Jayy: When he did his I.T he stayed on the island in Lagos, he said he has never lacked water only that the water in the tank was very dirty, before he could use it to cook, bath or wash he has to put a few drops of alum and leave it to settle before he uses it and for drinking he buys sachet water which cost 200 naira for a bag. He said the purifying agent in the alum needs to be imputed in the normal quantity which is very difficult to get then if you put too many drops, the water becomes slimy. He said 90% of water on the island is terrible unless you have a purification machine installed.

Sylvester: I have stayed in Ajah, Egbeda, Bayelsa and Uyo. When I stayed in Egbeda it was really difficult to get clean water as the water there was very bad it had a corrosive substance and you could perceive fuel in the water, I used sachet water to cook while for drinking I get water from the dispenser, I had to order like about 10 bottles of Cway water online, which last for like 2 to 3 weeks if I don’t have friends comic around. When I stayed in Ajah, the water smelled like metal, and I used it for laundry and cooking. Me and a few tenants contributed to get a GP tank so we could have clean water. When I stayed in Bayelsa, the water there was extremely salty. It even peeled my lip. We had to get water from Warri delivered to us. When I first came to Uyo, I used tap water for everything but before I drank the water I would parboil it. Now i buy 5 packs of bottled water for drinking which cost 1100 naira per pack, it lasts for 2 weeks. Had to stop drinking the tap water cause I was in and out of the hospital.

Joey: The only time water became a problem to me was when I was in boarding school. The water was very bad at the point where those who drank it fell sick. The water was treated but it took long before they solved the issue. Before then, if you are unable to boil the water or if you don’t have antiseptic to pour in before bathing, you have to buy 5 or 6 bags of sachet water for 500 naira, because we were not allowed to leave the school compound in search of water. I once bought 10 bags of sachet water for 1000 naira so I could drink it, use it to bathe, wash my plates and brush my teeth.

Grace: She has not really had a problem accessing water. She fetches water from the next compound which is not far from her place, she uses it to cook, wash and bathe before bathing the water she adds antiseptic because whenever she doesn’t her body itches. When they don’t have water, she has to pay someone to bring water to the house, this person charges 50 naira per 50 litres. For drinking she buys 5 bags of sachet water which cost 1000 naira. That’s how she has been coping with water in her area.

1 Like
9

Digging deeper:

Esther has to leave her compound to go fetch water from a neighbouring compound. She would prefer to have water in her compound or, better yet, flowing in the house.

Ella lives in a large estate that has shops. These shops are close to the entrance gate, and they don’t do deliveries, so they have to drive to the shops to buy drinking water.

Grace drinks satchet water and buys three bags at a time. She can’t carry them all at once. When she goes herself, she buys one bag, and it’s not even easy dragging it home. When her housekeeper is around, she sends her to buy the three bags. She wonders how the lady copes with it.

1 Like
11

Nice! I was thinking it would have more stories, interesting how this turned out!

You can start the next phase, defining needs and insights and then the problem statement.

12

Link to the Google form responses

Please let me know if you can access it

13

No oo, we don’t do forms oo, the reason I say speak to people is because through talking to them you get more answers as you can ask more nuanced questions. The question can even changed from person to person to make it easier. On forms, you’re boxed in.

No forms please. Is there a way you can still get their detailed responses? @chiomaj

14

Digging Deeper:

Tomiwa: she has several water suppliers’ contact and what she does is inform them like a week prior to when the water finishes. So if one supplier fails, the other is definitively going to be available. For the drinking water option, she goes for any available sachet water

Williams: the only time he has experienced water issues was when their electricity was faulty and they couldn’t pump so they have alternative of well and the well hardly goes dry since it’s just for their compound use alone not general. For drinking water too, he goes for available one not necessarily only Eva brand

Olamide: the person that helps him fetch water is always around because he usually tip her with extra money, sometimes food stuff so she is the one that usually come to ask if he needs water but when she is unavoidably absent, he looks for young boys in the area to help him fetch and he pays them well so he has several volunteers because he is always nice to them. For water as well, he patronizes any available store to buy water from

1 Like
15

Oh I thought I replied here @Fehintola, sorry! Basically the same thing I said to Debbie:

16

Digging deeper:

  • Grace buys 5 bags of sachet water for drinking, since she can’t carry all at a time she calls a friend that works for a sachet water company , whenever she needs to buy the bags of water she calls him on phone to deliver. She prefers buying directly from the company because it is cheaper than getting it from a retail shop.
  • Sylvester buys Cway water by ordering it from the app on his phone because he has a water dispenser at home.
  • Joey lived in a boarding school and there was no access to clean water both in and out of the school so everyone had to use the contaminated water running inside the school to do all their chores except those that had the money to buy bags of sachet water.
  • Jayy says only those who had a purification machine installed at home could access clean water but for those that don’t have the money to get one installed have to use contaminated water running in their homes.
1 Like