Wilfred Enow Agbor
Yaounde, Cameroon
For over three weeks now, Soa locality has been facing water crisis since the breakdown of a water pump at Mbende River. Inhabitants are now forced to travel long distances to fetch drinking water from springs or wells.
A native of Soa and the care taker of a spring near the Mbende River told iCameroon that Cameroon Water Corporation (Camwater) is responsible for the water pump. One of Camwater’s technicians acknowledged that the solution to this problem depends largely on the management. He went on to explain that the spare part necessary to repair the water pump comes from France, and that he does not know when the part will arrive.
A Well in Soa, Yaounde - a source of water supply
A native of the area was not comfortable with the water pump failure, and ponders why a country with long history of independence and of recently celebrated 50 years of reunification still cannot supply its people with potable water. The pump failure is not an isolated problem. The people of Soa have witnessed shortage of water due to rationing from Camwater.
When these problems occur, the locals depend on spring water and wells — they even believe that the water fetched from these alternate sources is cleaner.
Dinga Julius, a student at the Faculty of Economics and Management of the University of Yaoundé II in Soa, prefers spring water. He believes that he was twice a victim of typhoid because he consumed water from Camwater. He, however, dislikes long trips to fetch water from a spring.
Mbida Raphael is contented with water from a well. The water he gets from a well is natural and supplies almost all of Mbanda — a neighborhood of the Soa. Raphael does not only drink the water from the well, he fetches and sells it for 25 francs per 100 liters. At times he makes about 5,000 francs per day.
