Just to announce the birth of my book on watering the urban poor out of poverty in Nigeria . http://www.amazon.co.

uk/Global-Wealth-Watering-Poverty-Nigerian/dp/3845421037 Book Abstract: This study investigates the importance of the urban water system to the urban po or especially low income productive water users, particularly, those involved in urban agriculture, home gardening, horticulture, house building bricks making, fro zen water chips (ice block) and restaurants etc. It arrives at far reaching conc lusions such as the urgent need for a functional and efficient water supply syst em e.g. a water utility and an appropriate policy framework. It underscores thei r imperativeness if the maximization of income and optimization of employment op portunities derivable from these enterprises are to be scaled-up. Also, the stud y argues that water utilities, urban planners and municipal officials should ack nowledge that productive water users are here to stay, and that they contribute to the city economy in many ways. The study further underscores that reducing ur ban poverty is not possible without supporting micro-enterprises such as the pro ductive water users. The government it stressed should promote inclusive urban p lanning, that includes participatory planning processes which addresses the key constraints and needs of different categories of productive water users. While i dentifying major difficulties constraining a typical Nigerian water supply utili ty such as the Imo State Water Corporation (ISWC), some of which consist of thei r inability to provide investment for maintaining the condition and performance of their water assets; the study recommends the need for these organisations to focus more on assets management and putting funds aside for depreciation, if the y are to achieve reliable services. To overcome such constraints, a utility like ISWC would need to design strategies to improve current service levels for all consumer groups and provide for the rapid increase in the urban population. Achi eving these book argues would possibly leverage productive users, and this means the provision of quantity of water that is adequate to cater for their activiti es. The book further argues that legislative framework by the governments should concentrate on ensuring that productive water users are well served through the timely provision of relevant infrastructure and support services such as microcredits from both the mainstream funding sources as well as alternative finance. On efficiency, the study discovered and highlights in this book that some produ ctive water uses are more water efficient than others. This study has amongst ot her issues in this context further revealed that the desired Willingness to Pay (WTP) for water services is higher among the Restaurant and Ice Block groups. Th eir overwhelming subscription to the introduction of meters in the study area in dicates so, together with the possible realization that ISWC supplies could be c heaper than those from alternative sources. From the study an average small rest aurant uses 250 l/p/d of water while an average ice block maker uses 50 - 100 l/ p/d of water. Unlike other productive uses, very limited or insignificant amount of water is wasted on these activities. Waters used here were discovered to be sourced 50 and 75% respectively from alternative sources. In other words utility supplies make up less than 40% of these supplies. Another feature common to the se two groups is that they operate basically within their households or homestea d levels and commonly practiced by women (both married and single). They also re presented the highest number of productive water users surveyed in the study. In contrast, activities like Horticulture, Car Wash, Bricks/Block Making and Home Garden group have the poor reputation of wasting so much water. Despite the fact that these activities currently use much higher quantities of water than the av erage urban consumer, the users in this group are often hesitant to pay commensu rate charges. They are notorious for many cases of illegal connection and disrup tion of water flows. They strongly opposed the introduction of meters because of the fear that it would expose their high rate of water wastage and its appropri ate charges. To sustain the positive gains of these activities there is need to ensure and enhance sustainable urban water service delivery and waste water trea

tment and reuse in major cities of Nigeria as elsewhere; and for the study area, Owerri city in particular. There is an urgent need to address the overall chall enges which include: the creation of stable economic environment and institution of good governance at all levels of governance, improving planning, allocation and regulation, achieving economic and financial sustainability of utility inves tments/assets, building the capacity of stakeholders e.g. productive water users and therefore improving their socioeconomic life as well as those of many other s. Sincerely, Joachim Ibeziako Ezeji