Water regulatory agencies in the country have been urged to evolve policies that would regulate wastewater to avert epidemics.

The stakeholders, who spoke at the 2017 World Water Day with the theme, “Why waste water,” disclosed this at the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC), in Lagos.

According to an environmental toxicologist and lecturer at the Department of Zoology, University of Lagos, Dr. Temitope Sogbanmu, over 80 per cent of the wastewater generated in the country flow backs into the ecosystem without being treated or reused.

The implication, she said, is that 1.8 billion people globally use a source of drinking water that was contaminated with faeces, which place them at the risk of contracting cholera, dysentery, typhoid and polio.

The call followed the reports by the World Health Organisation and United Nations Education Fund (UNICEF) that about 884 million people lacked access to safe water, while 842 deaths recorded yearly are linked to lack of potable water, sanitation and hygiene.

The experts disclosed that statistics in the country showed that water-related diseases were responsible for about 70 per cent of admissions in most hospitals.

They explained that proper management of wastewater could provide alternative job opportunities for the unemployed youths.

Sogbanmu said appropriate policies on water resource could prove useful in diversifying the country’s economy.