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Cameroon: As Water Costs Soar, Women Pay the Price

by Wirndzerem Albert Bongkiyung

In Cameroon, access to water in general terms depends on who has the financial means. Water is charged by a flat rate system to households, and if you cannot pay you do not have access.

Generally in Cameroon it is the role of women and children to fetch water for the entire household. In principal, this group must put in much time, energy, and resources to gather water from great distances, thus diminishing the quality of their lives. Thus it is women who feel the impact in the 75 percent of the Cameroonian population which does not have access to improved water in their homes. These women must fetch water from public standpipes, streams, rivers, and springs. A program financed by the French Cooperation Fund is forcing women in some places to use precious household monetary resources to buy their family’s water from public standpipes and is creating a dangerous precedent for the rest of the country. Others are faced with untreated water from streams, wells, and rivers, which is of doubtful quality and carries all the imaginable health risks. Such women without access to water are often forced to buy water from private vendors. Vendors charge many times more for their water than what is charged to households with piped water.

Women are now teaming up in “common initiative” groups to improve their lives. These groupings help them to acquire potable water assistance from the diplomatic community; Swiss, American, European Union, and Japanese representatives have responded. The institutions have very good guiding principles which unfortunately are not being put in to practice.

Even for the 25 percent of the population in Cameroon which has access to improved water delivery, access to water is often an uphill battle. The Ministry of Mines, Water Resources and Energy, the National Water Cooperation (SNEC), and local municipalities are supposed to be responsible for public access to water. During the rainy season there is constant flow of water, but in the dry season pipes run dry for days. In general terms, the water is of good quality but at times colored to the extent that it leaves particles which settle to the bottom. One of the more prohibitive measures is that if water is cut off, households must pay a reinstallation fee plus the principal sum to resume their access to water. For some poor families, such cutoffs from water supply happen as much as four to five times per year.

The construction of water pricing policy is currently influenced by the welfare of citizens and the cost of installation. The organizations which manage water in Cameroon oppose privatization. However, such policies are being forced down their throats by Bretton Woods institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank. Discussions are underway with a private company that is ready to take over water and sewage management in Cameroon. The government agency for the privatization of public companies and some experts from the Ministry of Mines, Water Resources and Energy are the ones involved in the negotiations.

Generally, water delivery has improved in the last 15 years, except in the northern Sahel region where cholera outbreaks affect some villages. The government has responded with a vaccination campaign that covers the country. However, Cholera and other waterborne diseases can easily be reduced through the greater provision of piped-water supplied by the authorities. The general empowerment of women would perhaps be the most effective policy for improving water access in communities. Female capacity to perform simple water purification techniques would have amplified public health effects in their communities.

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