THE State government, at the weekend, clamped down on the 1004 Estate in Victoria Island, over an allegation that the residents were polluting the environment.
The exercise, carried out by men of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), saw to the closure of the water treatment facility that serves potable water to the entire estate.
The enforcement team of LASEPA, it was gathered, responded to an emergency call, following the free discharge of poisonous backwash from the water treatment plant into a nearby school premises.
General Manager of LASEPA, Adebola Shabi, said the closure was necessary to forestall a repeat of October 2013 and April 2014 incidents in Ogba Secondary School, where school pupils inhaled poisonous substance and passed out.
Shabi explained that the backwash, which is used in washing the water treatment facility, was flowing wrongly into the playing ground of Crescent Schools and Crèche, which is very dangerous to the community.
According to him, the discharge, you would notice, is reddish in colour because of its iron content. By the time it dries up and reacts with atmospheric oxygen, it becomes ferric oxide. In dry period, it goes into the atmosphere and when inhaled by the children, it will affect that their respiratory system. That is why we have gone there to seal it,” he said.
Shabi added that the residents and their Facility Manger had been invited in the past but have not followed the directive of the agency, especially on the need to redirect the discharge channel into the wastewater treatment plant.
Head of Pollution Control, LASEPA, Bisi Shonibare, said that the estate must desilt the drains immediately, relocate the estate gatehouse that is currently sited on the drainage channel and clean up the Crescent Schools before the kids resume from their long holiday.
