By Bakah Derick
A celebration mode was activated in the Bamenda III
Sub divisional Council Monday September 21st, 2015 as Mayor Fongu Cletus
Tanwie, his staff and some members of the council area drank water for the first
time from the Council Water Purification plant.
It took the five German experts Karli Heinisch,
Gerd Muller, Monika Klasen, Bruno Rauen and Horst Wollscheid all water
engineers, the nearest two weeks to get the water ready with the collaboration
of locally selected workers.
Talking to HILLTOPVOICES, Karli Heinisch described
the job as challenging considering the fact that the type of pipes used were
not in Cameroon and so they had to import from Germany. The difficult terrain
and bad roads he added were some of the challenges faced. While indicating
their support for the project to last for at least four years, the expert
indicated that they have trained some local technicians who will be in charge of
the day to day running of the project. On issues of expiration, Karli explained
that the pipes used will have a lifespan of at least 100 years and for the
purification sand 40years. Collected from the Menteh Waterfall, Karli said
their choice was due to the non usage of electricity in the collection point
and so he concluded "the supply will be constant with good pressure with
electricity on not." The expert disclosed that their purification had
produced a PH of 7.8 which is their standard in Germany and very good for
consumption. The German technician leaves Cameroon with memories of the
hospitality of the people he worked with and the Mayors entire house hood.
"I felt satisfied after drinking from the
water which literary tasted new." mayor Fongu said after taking in a cup
of the purified water. According to Mayor Fongu the water is at distribution point and in the coming days Councilors and other council development related actors
will be approaching the various communities on how to get the water to various
homes since the project is participatory.
Beaming with smiles Mayor Fongu expressed thanks to
the partnership with Trinkwasser of Trier City Germany which has brought the
project to fulfillment.
He further assured the people of Bamemda III that
though the water will not be free it will be very affordable to permit
everyone to have access to portable drinkable water which will go a long way to
improve on the health and sanitation conditions of the people in the
municipality and beyond.
Though with the availability of water sources like
the Nkwen community water initiative, Camwater, Menteh and New layout water
initiatives, less than 40% of the municipality has direct access to portable
water. Bamenda III municipal authorities are expressing hope that the remaining
60% will surely have water thanks to the council water project.