The Rivers State Government has commenced a clampdown on illegal and substandard water factories across the state.
WITHIN NIGERIA gathered that the operation commenced with the sealing off of seven substandard water factories around diobu area of Port Harcourt and was led by Tamunosisi Gogo Jaja, the Commissioner for Water Resources.
The team carried out inspections on a number of water factories in Port Harcourt where the defaulting factories were sealed.
The commissioner, who spoke to journalists after the inspection assured Rivers people of government’s commitment to ensuring that quality water is delivered to the public.
Jaja said “he intention of government is to protect the people of Rivers state , protect those who live and do business here, the health of our people is very important.
“The interest of government is to ensure that weather private or public , we deliver quality water to our people and in so doing it is our responsibility as a ministry to ensure that those who are into this industry , shouldn’t be there to make profit , they should be there to render services which should be commensurate with the charges they are imposing on people and residents of Rivers State.
“What we saw in the field I must say are quite disappointing . You will discover that our people are served with low standard either in the name of table water, sachet water or bottled water. We observed that some of them do this business in the worst of environment. Some of them don’t bother about hygiene.”
The commissioner also disclosed that some water factories were given two weeks to improve on their facilities.