Resources / ''Big Stream'' of Peyi village of Abuja.

''Big Stream'' is a major source of water for the inhabitants of Peyi village. Peyi village is in between two ridges of hard igneouse rocks. There is no pipe borne water although the councilor is making efforts to bring one. The major source of water for the people remains the groundwater which is accessed from hand-dug wells and boreholes and the ''Big stream''.

Not many people have well in their compound and yet many find it difficult affording the cost of the borehole water often supplied by water vendors. In dry season, most of the wells dry up thereby making the price of the borehole water to go up.

For these reasons, most of the villagers depend on the ''Big stream'' for their domestic water needs including drinking from it. Women and children often spend much time fetching water from the stream. They also carry out laundry and bathing in the stream.

But the concern is that, the villagers also defaecate in the surrounding bushes and when it rains, run-off water wash down the feces into the stream. Also, cattle rearers do bring there cattle to the stream. Dry season agriculture is equally done close to the stream because the water is used for irrigation too. Another, issue is the indiscriminate way, refuses are dumped around the village.

I am advocating that landlords should construct modern toilets for the tenants. And also provide boreholes. Hand dug-wells should be properly cased and covered; where possible, submersible pumps should be installed in the well to limit access through the use of fetching buckets. There is fear of contamination of the groundwater via pit laterine. This is because, the water table in most cases is shallow and the latrines, where they exist, are often not too far located from the wells.

The majority of people living in Peyi are artisans, farmers and very few civil servants.