Jos, 25 March, 2021 / 1:15 pm (ACI Africa).
Members of the Religious Institute of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) in Nigeria’s Catholic Diocese of Enugu are facilitating a borehole project aimed at providing clean water to an indigenous community.
In a Thursday, March 25 report obtained by ACI Africa, SDB officials say the borehole project that targets members of Nkerefi “will contribute to the livelihood of the local community, curtail the outbreak of waterborne diseases and infections, and help reduce the rate of women and infant mortality.”
“Clean water is a scarce commodity in Nkerefi. The majority of families depend on a small, brownish stream called Evuna that partially runs through parts of the villages,” the Salesians say in the report published by Agenzia Info Salesiana, the information agency of the SDB.
According to the Salesians, the Evuna stream, which is seasonal, is the “only accessible water source for drinking, bathing, washing and cooking” for the members of Nkerefi in Southeastern Nigeria.
The seasonal nature of the river makes it unreliable leading to “a severe shortage of potable water as few people can afford to develop wells due to the cost and the hard nature of the soil,” members of the St. John Bosco-founded Religious Institute say in their March 25 report.
