By Bakah Derick
Blogger@hilltopvoices
Sponsored by The
Greens
As part of efforts to solve the water crisis
in the Northwest Regional headquarters Bamenda, Northwest Governor Adolph Lele
L’afrique Tchoffo Deben in November 2014 appointed Mr Nguele Nguele Felix
Senior Divisional Officer SDO for Mezam to head a special Water Crisis Committee.
Talking to the SDO recently in his Bamenda
upstation office as part of activities leading to World Water Day 2015
#WWD@2015, he explained to hilltopvoices that Bamenda is usually supplied with
8000cl of water from the city's lone storage tank daily. In a bid to clean the
tank in December 2014 which is an annual activity, an accident occurred causing
all the water content to run down stream.
Nguele Nguele added, this reduced the water far below the supply pipe
causing the crisis.
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| Army Rescue Supplying Water in Bamenda. Photo Credit Richard Ndeh |
Together with the
state water supplier CDE, a machine was brought from Douala to get some water
up stream. This effort yielded less than 6000cl of water which is far
insufficient to serve Bamenda he noted. To
be able to assist the population, a plan was hashed by the special committee to
supply water to city dwellers using tankers of the Army Rescue Unit and CAMWATER
at particular spots and time in Bamenda. It was not long when this plan was
heavily criticized by the population as the tankers could not respect the laid
down plan for the distribution. To this the SDO explained that they could not
get many tankers needed but the few they could get supplied water based on the
need as indicated by Quarter Heads.
What is the Situation Now? Let’s Read that
next
Water is nature
Ecosystems lie at the heart of the
global water cycle.
global water cycle.
Ecosystems
– including, for example, forests, wetlands and grassland – lie at the heart of
the global water cycle. All freshwater ultimately depends on the continued
healthy functioning of ecosystems, and recognizing the water cycle is essential
to achieving sustainable water management. Yet most economic models do not
value the essential services provided by freshwater ecosystems. This leads to
unsustainable use of water resources and ecosystem degradation. For example,
the Okavango river in Africa is one of the last unspoilt ecosystems on earth.
Pollution from untreated residential and industrial wastewater and agricultural
run-off also weakens the capacity of ecosystem to provide water-related
services.
There
is a need to shift towards environmentally sustainable economic policies that
take account of the interconnection between ecological systems. One challenge
is to maintain a beneficial mix between built and natural infrastructure and
provision of their respective services.
Economic
arguments can make the preservation of ecosystems relevant to decision-makers
and planners. Ecosystem valuation demonstrates that benefits far exceed costs
of water-related investments in ecosystem conservation. Valuation is also
important in assessing trade-offs in ecosystem conservation, and can be used to
better inform development plans. Adoption of ‘ecosystem-based management’ is
key to ensuring water long-term sustainability.
Sponsored by
The Greens