The volatile availability of pipe-borne water in the town of Buea has become of great concern for most of the average inhabitants of the town. The water scarcity, which has often characterized the town, has gotten worse in recent times as the people of Buea are said to have gone for three whole weeks without any water running from taps in most parts of the town.
In the face of this, some of the inhabitants have sought alternative means of getting clean and affordable water. While the very rich ones have solved this problem by drilling boreholes and buying bottled water, the average inhabitants have been left stranded. Many have equally been left frustrated by the fact that there has been no official statement made by the authorities as to the scarcity of water in Buea.
“Authorities have made no official statement to that effect. Life has really been so difficult especially for those people living with families. We cover distances to buy water from those hostels with drilled boreholes. Then we are forced to buy ‘Supermont water’, only a few people can afford to buy mineral water. It’s really terrible. I don’t understand why we should lack water in the midst of a competition like this that Cameroon is hosting,” complained an anonymous inhabitant.
The scarcity of water has reportedly always been a problem in Buea, though the recent crisis has been worse.
“For the past years that is how it has been. Most of the time we have water like today and expect it 3 or 4 days later. We’ve always coped with that, but this time we’ve made three whole weeks without any taps running. I live in Molyko but I can affirm that from mile 16 right up to Bonduma, it is the same thing throughout,” he added.