Mega pumping Station Ready July, says Lagos Govt |Omohglobalnews

Oyebola Owolabi

The mega pumping station being built at Ilubirin, Lagos Island, to address perennial flooding in the area, will be ready July ending, Lagos State government has said.

Permanent Secretary (Office of Drainage Services and Water Resources), Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources, Nurudeen Shodeinde, an engineer, made this known yesterday after an assessment tour of the project.

The station, when completed, will address flooding at Adeniji, Oroyinyin, Idumagbo, Ojo Giwa, Jankara and environs, he said.

Shodeinde, who said work on the mega pumping station is expected to end by July, added that it will solve the problem of back flowing of water from the lagoon to the listed areas, thereby causing water to remain stagnant.

Three mega turbine pumps with the capacity to pump three million litres of storm water per hour will be installed at the station to continuously pump water into the lagoon.

The permanent secretary said the big turbine pumps were designed to function automatically and also self-operate, while being powered majorly by public power electricity, which would be backed up by a 350KVA generator with capacity to pump any accumulated water.

He added: “The major challenge is the depressed nature of the affected areas, which makes it difficult for water to naturally drain into the lagoon. This prompted the government to also construct a rectangular drainage outlet at the Ilubirin end, which is higher than the sea level. Water is moved either by gravity or by pumping, bearing in mind that Lagos Island is the lowest-lying part of the state, and this has made it difficult for water to flow into the lagoon, hence a sump which is 20 by 20 metres in length and breadth, and 6-7metres deep into the ground, will be created where the three turbine pumping machines will be installed, thereby creating artificial energy to pump the storm water out into the lagoon.

“The turbine pumps, which are individually four metres high, will be installed deep into the water to maintain the temperature of the coils of the pump with a discharge point created higher than the level of the lagoon. When the project is completed, there will be no record of water flowing back from the lagoon into the communities.

“The mega pumping station will replace the temporary wall embankment constructed at Ilubirin to prevent the back flow of the lagoon.”