Water Scarcity Hits Yaounde Again

Some neighbourhoods have gone for four months without regular water flow.

Taps have again run dry in some neighbourhoods in Yaounde, Centre Region. The supply of water is described by inhabitants of such neighbourhoods as scarce, though indispensable. This has led them to go for alternative sources.

In neighbourhoods such as Minkoameyos in Nkolbisson in the Yaounde VII municipality that hosts the Mefou Dam and the Water Treatment Centre that supplies water to the municipality and neighbouring city, inhabitants say the last time water supply was regular was four months. This notwithstanding, residents are served bills at the end of each month for metre rents. “We had regular water supply before the rehabilitation of the Water Treatment Plant,” Emmanuel said. Other neighbourhoods like Tam-Tam Weekend, Etoug-Ebe and TKC in the Mendong area, are in the same situation. Those in Etoug-Ebe say they have gone for two weeks without regular water supply, while inhabitants of TKC say it’s a week now since their taps ran dry.

Those in Tam-Tam have also gone for days without the precious liquid. “The past three days have been hell,” Rodrigue Ngansop, Etoug-Ebe resident said, stating that it was the first time his family was faced with such difficulty since moving into the neighbourhood a year ago. The Cameroon Water Utilities Corporation, CAMWATER, is however aware of the inconveniences, but says construction work on some parts of the city, coupled with the insufficient quantity of water makes it difficult to manage demand. Construction works cause the displacement of some pipes, tampering with supply i...