Participants to Earthwatch’s second water conference held on 26 August 2003 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, focused on the theme of Bacteria in Drinking Water: Public Health Implications, with papers presented by experts from academia, water boards, multi-national, and test laboratories.

Participants noted the following recommendations, including, inter alia, the need for: federal, state and local governments to ensure the provision of potable water by the year 2010; improved efficiency and proper monitoring of public water supply systems; proper waste disposal and management techniques be put in place to handle daily waste generation; relevant authorities to draft and pass into law drinking water standards governing drinking water quality and reporting requirement for public water systems; and the need for adequate geophysical surveys and studies to determine the location and production of boreholes to ensure that quality water is provided to the people. These recommendations will be forwarded to government agencies and other water industry stakeholders.
The first EarthWatch Conference took place in 1997 at Port Harcourt, with the theme – Financing Rural Water Supply Projects in Nigeria. A third water Conference in Nigeria is currently being organized. More information about the Earthwatch Institute can be found at: http://www.earthwatch.org/