FUNAAB don stresses importance of hydrology

A call has gone to government at all levels to strengthen agencies connected with gathering related hydrological information in order to encourage rain water harvesting. A Professor of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, Olufiropo Awokola made this call while speaking on the topic, ‘Hydrological Forecasting and Prediction: An Important Tool in Water Resources Development and Management’, at the 73rd Inaugural Lecture of the Federal University of Agriculture (FUNAAB), Abeokuta, Ogun State, held at the Oluwafemi Olaiya Balogun Ceremonial Building of the institution.
Prof. Awokola described governmental agencies as the largest employers of hydrologists, stating that it is important for them to have major interest in stimulating hydrologic education. He described water as the most important natural resource needed by man in all ramifications, saying that governments should endeavour to make water availability their priority for both rural and urban dwellers. Speaking on some of the factors militating against provision of water, the don highlighted population explosion, opening up of new locations, cases of new sites springing up in urban areas and power supply as some of the factors that had led to shortage of water, stating that this had caused most communities to provide reliable means of water supply for themselves. The 73rd Inaugural Lecturer condemned the habit of policy makers making generalised decisions for the drilling of boreholes across the country without considering the geological differences in various parts of the country.
According to him, “There is plenty of evidence of non-functioning boreholes in major communities across the country, some of which were constructed by some government agencies. The only way to ensure that such is reduced is if governments choose their priority right and use appropriate contractors with the right equipment and consultants that check the borehole design to handle such jobs. After completion, the government should charged the community with such borehole the responsibility of monitoring and maintenance since what belongs to everyone belongs to nobody”, he said. Prof. Awokola, however, enjoined the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olusola Kehinde, who was chairman at the occasion, to introduce Hydrology and Climate Change, as another area of specialisation in the Department of Civil Engineering, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate level in FUNAAB.