Water supply improves in Yaounde

The Etoug-Ebe, Mendong and Mimboman neighbourhoods have witnessed some improvements in the past months.

A resident of the Etoug-Ebe neighbourhood in Yaounde says they have witnessed great improvements in the flow of potable water since the Nkolbison water catchment started pumping the precious liquid. Joan Wirsiy explained that water has been flowing everyday since the end of the year 2014.

She however stressed that the beginning of 2015, the dry season has come with some water rationing. “It stops at 6 a.m. but comes back by 10 a.m. But in all, we have water everyday,” she concluded. Like in Etoug-Ebe, residents of the Mendong neighbourhood have for some time now forgotten the thorny issue of water scarcity. The neighbourhood, like Etoug-Ebe, has in the past months witnessed constant water flow.

“The situation has greatly improved since six months now as compared to the past,” said Jean Baptiste, a resident of the Mendong. He noted that though there might be cuts, the supply remains constant. The constant water flow in the Etoug-Ebe, Mendong and Mimboman neighbourhoods of Yaounde comes on the wake of government measures optimising the supply of water from the Mefou catchment in Nkolbison. The plant went operational in January 2014 and since November 2014, the 50,000 cubic metres pumped each day are already being felt in households.

Figures from the Ministry of Water and Energy Resources indicate that the Akomnyada Water Treatment Plant, alongside others, supplies the city with 150,000 cubic metres of potable water a day. The Regional Director of the Camerounaise des eaux, CDE, for the Centre, Félix Zogo Manga, notes that demand for the city stands at 220,000 cubic metres a day. Efforts are ongoing to bridge the 70,000 cubic metres daily demand/supply shortfall. He disclosed that work is ongoing and that by July 2015, reserves of 15,000 cubic metres per day could be made available.

Irrespective of what is happening elsewhere, the neighbourhoods of Ngoa-Ekelle, Hotel de Plateau, Essos and Messassi, are still thirsty. Authorities explain that the gradient nature of the neighbourhoods is not helping matters. But government is not folding arms. Félix Zogo says work is on course to serve all Yaounde dwellers with potable water.

Damas, a neighbourhood reputed for not having potable water for long now faces the same fate. But CDE has assured that something will be done about the situation. Oyom-Abang and Minkoa Meyos have also been earmarked to have work started and potable water supplied.