Bamenda III Council development seeds sprout with water

A celebration mode was triggered in the Bamenda III Sub-divisional Council on Monday, September 21, 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, about 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 or 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 gratitude to the partnership with Trinkwasser of Trier City Germany which 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.

Even 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 hopeful that the remaining 60% will surely have water thanks to the council water project.