Water sources and management in Adamawa State, Nigeria

By Emmanuel Yakass, Andrew Okem & Charity Osei-Amponsah

In northern Nigeria, climate change is exacerbating existing vulnerabilities and causing severe socioeconomic impacts. While climate change impacts are general and pervasive, women and children are the most vulnerable because of pre-existing factors such as poverty, family structure and entrenched gender norms that promote unequal power relations. Women also play limited roles in governance and leadership which affect their access to resources and usage in the community. These realities are playing out in Adamawa State in northeastern Nigeria. The State has been prone to the harsh realities of climate change, coupled with incessant conflicts and, most recently, an influx of refugees from neighbouring states and Cameroon, leading to pressure on its natural resources and limited amenities.

This blog highlights the changing sources of water over the last decade and the decision-making structures and processes involved in water resource management in the fragile communities of Adamawa State. It draws from a larger study that assessed the vulnerabilities to changes in water systems of conflict-affected communities in Adamawa State.

Changing sources of water

A survey of 400 households in 20 communities located in 10 local governments in Adamawa State reveals changes in households’ access to water now, compared to 10 years ago (Table 1). Primary sources of households’ water that experienced a decline include wells (24% now compared to 29.4%) and streams or rivers (18.5% now compared to 25.3%). However, the use of boreholes as the primary source of households’ water has increased by 8.5% compared to ten years ago. Similarly, rainwater harvesting (2.2%) and water truck delivery (1%) were reported to have increased now compared to 10 years ago.  

Table 1: Households’ primary source of water now compared to ten years ago

While households’ primary sources of water have experienced modest changes over the past ten years, the reliability of access remains a challenge. For instance, most respondents asserted that they cannot rely on dug-out wells since they easily dry up during the dry season, a challenge common to streams and rivers as well. This still leaves most respondents relying on unsafe sources of water to supplement well water or water from boreholes. This has resulted in waterborne diseases like typhoid, diarrhea, fever and urinary tract infections for both males and females. Water scarcity also has socioeconomic impacts as noted by a participant, ‘men spent more money to buy water for home use; livelihoods connected to water are affected’. Another participant reported that ’time for education and livelihoods is affected as they (children) spend longer hours in search of water’. The above narratives show how water-related risks, in this case growing water scarcity is affecting communities and especially marginalized people in Adamawa State. Therefore, there is a need for effective structures that will provide interventions to address the challenges faced by communities due to increasing water scarcity.

Decision-making structures and processes

The findings show that more than half of the respondents (62.3%) are aware of water governance structures in the community. The decision-making structures on water systems and their governance comprised any of the following: elected community leaders, traditional leaders/rulers and informal community committees. These structures are responsible for making key decisions as to where water infrastructure should be situated, where boreholes should be drilled and land allocation for such water amenities, among others. While these decision-making structures and processes strive to be more inclusive of many key stakeholders in the communities, it is mostly biased towards men as the key decision-makers. This is because, most of the leadership positions in many communities are patriarchally influenced. Just over half of the respondents (53.3%) mentioned that decision-making processes related to water management were collective, while top-down decision-making processes and a combination of both accounted for 25.5% and 21.3% respectively. Less than one-third of women (20.1%) are involved in decision-making processes related to water in the community. Non-inclusivity in decision-making means that the opinions of some communities are not always factored into decision-making on water-related management. Women were the most excluded from water-related decision-making processes in the community.

When women are left out of such critical decision-making groups their inputs are not taken into consideration thereby ignoring the effects of such decisions on them. Women use water for household chores, and some depend on water for their economic activities. Ignoring their views on matters related to water management means depriving them of their means of subsistence and further worsening their vulnerabilities as they become dependent on their spouses for basic needs like water.

Policy implications and recommendations

Since men, women and children experience different water-related challenges in conflict affected communities, there is the need to adopt strategies that mitigate the effects they experience. Decision-making on water resource access and management should be inclusive to address the challenges of both men and women. Also, policy makers who design strategies for mitigating water-related risks in fragile areas should adopt a bottom-up approach in designing their interventions to get the views of the whole community and not a select few in leadership. To enhance women’s voice in decision-making on water resource access and management, governance structures in communities should create more avenues and space for women in leadership to ensure equity and fair representation of women in the decision-making structures.

The research findings are drawn from a project implemented by the International Water Management Institute in partnership with the World Food Programme with funding support from Norad.