Drinking Water, Boreholes, and Water Treatment in Lagos

Water supply for homes in Lagos relies mainly on individual boreholes paired with modern filtration systems.

Recommended Treatment

• Sand & Activated Carbon Filters: To remove sediment and odors.
• Reverse Osmosis & UV: To purify water at the kitchen tap.
• Bottled Water Delivery: Bottled mineral water (Eva, Cway, Nestlé Pure Life).

Why Individual Boreholes Dominate

The Lagos Water Corporation's public distribution network covers only a limited share of Lagos's population, so most homes (including in wealthier neighborhoods) depend on a private borehole drilled on the plot, with an electric pump and a storage water tank. The cost of drilling a residential borehole typically ranges from NGN 800,000 to 2,500,000 depending on the required depth and subsoil conditions, with the water table more accessible in parts of the mainland than in the sandy soil of the island.

Water Quality and Filtration Levels

Raw borehole water in Lagos almost always needs treatment before consumption, due to variable water hardness and the risk of bacterial contamination from nearby septic tanks in dense areas. A multi-stage system is recommended: mechanical filtration (sand, cartridge) for sediment, activated carbon for taste and odor, then reverse osmosis or UV treatment for water used for drinking and cooking. For strictly potable water, most households supplement this setup with bottled water or sachet water certified by NAFDAC (Nigeria's food and drug regulatory agency), from brands such as Eva, Cway, or Nestlé Pure Life.

The Scale of the Public Coverage Gap

Available studies on the sector show that fewer than 30% of Lagos's population has access to public water in the broad sense (including community standpipes), with that figure dropping below 10% when counting only direct household connections to the Lagos Water Corporation network. Back in 2016, the state's daily water demand was already estimated at 724 million gallons against actual production of just 317 million gallons, a structural gap projected to reach around 24% by 2030 absent major reform. This situation explains why individual boreholes are so widespread, even in Lagos's wealthiest neighborhoods.

An Ongoing Reform to Expand the Network

Facing this chronic shortfall, the Lagos Water Corporation has launched a public-private partnership (PPP) process aimed at extending public network coverage to 80% of needs, with around twenty investors having already bid to take part in this historic sector reform. If successful, this initiative could eventually reduce Lagos households' reliance on individual boreholes and home filtration systems, but large infrastructure projects of this kind typically take years to implement, making boreholes and private filtration unavoidable for residents in the medium term.