Optimal Greening Foundation - A2E Fund

Over 58 million people living in urban areas in Nigeria are living without basic sanitation. For Lagos, Nigeria a mega city, only ten percent of the population has access to piped clean water from the government, others that can afford to provide for themselves drill boreholes but rural and marginalised communities, lack access to potable water and sanitation.

Project: Water Ease for Development Alliance (WEDA)

Country & region/location: Nigeria, Agala community, Lagos Island, Lagos

Category: Energy & Water and Agriculture

Optimal Greening Foundation is presently developing a Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) project to deliver environmental sustainability services to a marginalized island community (AGALA) in Lagos, Nigeria. The community consists of 221 households (~1,100 people). The coastal community is a 30-minute boat ride from Lagos mainland and lacks access to basic amenities including clean water, electricity, and sanitation facilities. Lack of access to clean water and sanitation in Agala threatens life within the community, particularly for infants and children under 5 years. The women and girls suffer from extensive genital infection that impedes health, wellbeing and productivity. All members of the community are constantly in an unending battle with skin irritation due to the use of contaminated water. Whilst improper disposal of human waste further pollutes their environment and exposes the population to recurring diseases.

The project is designed to address environmental and social issues, identified together with the community leaders, associated with lack of access to clean water, to alleviate poverty and to support the sustainable development of this marginalized community.

The solution consists of the following key elements:

1. Drilling of an industrial borehole to satisfy the community water requirements
2. Deployment of a battery-free solar powered water treatment facility, based on reverse osmosis and designed for remote or island communities
3. Installation of a solar power system for the generation of clean energy to pump water from the borehole and operate the water treatment facility
4. Construction of sanitation facilities consisting of six toilets and four shower stalls to improve hygiene within the community
5. Construction of a biodigester facility to treat sewage and produce biogas and liquid fertilizer

Expected results:

• Community water requirements achieved for 221 families
• 6 toilets and 4 shower toilets built to improve hygiene and sanitation
• Improved health due to potable water access, reduced incidence of diseases related to open defecation and respiratory illnesses, and money saved from treating waterborne (cholera, typhoid…) and enteric diseases
• 25 new jobs created for the operation and maintenance of the facilities
• Reduced carbon emissions from the burning of firewood for cooking and boiling water and climate resilience through the provision of clean potable 
• Reduction in migration, public understanding, and exposure to new methods of hygiene and sanitation
• Biogas empowers women food entrepreneurs with clean cooking by displacing firewood

• Increased productivity from agricultural activity due to liquid fertiliser from the biodigester