In a laudable move involving good sense and leadership, the mayor of Lagos has decided that the residents of Bensafrim should have drastic reductions to their water bills as the council appears unable to maintain anything close to a regular supply.
The discount starts immediately, will be shown on December invoices and will last until the new supply pipeline comes into full operation.
Customers will only be charged for 1m3 of water and the normal service charges. The reason for this reduction is that the public water supply service in the Bensafrim area has “experienced a number of frequent interruptions in recent months due to breaks along the supply pipeline in that area," according to the council.
In a proposal submitted to the council for its last meeting, it was claimed that in addition to intermittent supply, it has been common that air comes out the tap rather than water, and that when water does emerge it often is brown with bits in so even when the supply is back on, the water is unuseable.
The local authority says that repair work has been carried out and "preparatory actions for the implementation of the new supply pipeline are already underway."
But as the supply problems are not solved and to "mitigate the damage caused to the wellbeing of families” the council has done the right thing.
