CHAPTER ONE:

BACKGROUND AND PROBLEMS OF THE STUDY

I.I General Introduction                                                            

Water scarcity is among the main problems to be faced by many societies and the World in the 21^st century (Luis, 2002). Water scarcity is commonly defined as a situation where water availability in a country or in a region is below 1000 m3 per person per year. However, many regions in the World experience much more severe scarcity, living with less than 500 m³ per person per year, which could be considered severe water scarcity. Water scarcity causes enormous problems for the populations and societies. The available water is not sufficient for the production of food and for alleviating hunger and poverty in these regions, where quite often the population growth is larger than the capability for sustainable use of the natural resources (UNDESA, 2011). The lack of water does not allow industrial, urban and tourism development to proceed without restrictions on water uses and allocation policies for other user sectors, particularly agriculture. Natural fresh water bodies have limited capacity to respond to increased demands and to receive the pollutant charges of the effluents from expanding urban, industrial and agricultural uses. In regions of water scarcity the water resources are probably already degraded, or subjected to processes of degradation in both quantity and quality, which adds to the shortage of water. Health problems are commonly associated with scarcity, not only because the deterioration of the groundwater and surface waters favours water borne diseases, but because poverty makes it difficult to develop proper water distribution and sewerage systems Muta’a (2012). Water conflicts still arise in water stressed areas among local communities and between countries since sharing a very limited and essential resource is extremely difficult despite legal agreements. Poverty associated with water scarcity generates migratory fluxes of populations within countries or to other countries where people hope to have a better life, but where they may not be well received. Preserving natural ecosystems is often considered a superfluous use of water compared with other uses that directly relate to healthy human life, such as domestic and urban uses, or that may lead to the alleviation of poverty and hunger, such as uses in industry, energy and food production.  Amponsah (2005) highlights that water plays a pivotal role in the success of all projects. This means that for as much as the life span of a project depends on water, households deserve the first priority on the side of the municipality on provision of this basic need. 

The water shortage, referred to in this study, is crucial for basic household needs such as washing, cooking, sewerage system, drinking both human and livestock. The households in this Township greatly depend on the water supply from streams and few taps doted here and there. Before 2005 water supply to households was pipe borne to inhabitants in their yards or streams around. However, currently many people are seen carrying water containers up and down drawing water from other sections in the township, neighboring towns or villages such as Tatum in Bui Division and Binka in the Nkambe Central Sub Division.   

                   The main economic activity of the inhabitants of Ndu is agriculture. The clearing of the forests, tilling of the soil and the rearing of animals have completely exposed the water table to the atmosphere leading to severe water evaporation and hence the springs and other water sources are constantly drying up over the years. Water is a basic need that should always be available for human consumption and economic activities. Insufficient water in the body may lead to dehydration and this kind of situation may be deadly. Recently having drinking water in Ndu is a big problem as many springs and some of the pipe borne water constructed by the indigenes in collaboration with foreign N.G.O have dried up. 

I.2 Background of the study

Water is essential for human life, development and the environment but it is a finite and vulnerable resource which has quantitative and qualitative limitations. According to People’s Action International (PAI, 1997) water is the source of life on the earth surface that is why PAI says life is tied to water ,air and food while food is tied to water. Despite the importance of water to human life, water shortage is becoming a Global issue. PAI (1999) estimates that, there are 31 countries in the world with the total population of 485 million inhabitants which face water stress. According to the UN water fact sheet on water security (2013), every continent in the world is already experiencing water shortage and water scarcity.

According to the UN water organization (2013), water shortage is one of the main problems to be faced by many societies and the world by the end of the 21^st century.  The UN water organization (2013) estimates that, around 1.2billion people of the world’s population leave in areas of water scarcity and more seriously, over 2.8billion people in 48 countries will face water stress by 2025, of which 40 out of 48 of these countries are found in the middle East and North Africa. Henrichsen (1999) predict that population increase alone will push all of Middle East into water scarcity within the next two decades.

According to UNEP (2002) the total amount of water on earth is about 1400million km³ and about 97.5% of this water is salty and only 2.5 is fresh water.

Gleick (2000) indicates that there are five major drivers demanding a huge expansion of Water resources in the 20^thcentury    population growth, industrial development, expansion of irrigated agriculture, massive urbanization and rising standards of living. Gleick (2000) also revealed that 20% of the world’s population or more than 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water.

According to(Cosgrove, 2000),  50% of the world’s population or more than 3 billion people lack access to  sanitation    and about 80% of all illnesses and more than one third of all deaths in developing   countries are related to water. It is estimated that worldwide, around 7 million die yearly from diseases linked to water.  Every eight seconds a child dies from a water-related illness that is about 4 million a year, (UNEP, 1999 and Serageldin, 1999).

Diverting water for irrigation in Central Asia has caused devastating effects. A notorious case is the Aral Sea. This has shrunk to a fraction of its original size and badly degraded in water quality (Serageldin, 2000). Transmission of water itself causes severe problems. The supply system of large European cities, for example, can lose up to 80% of the water transported because of pipe damage; with some Mexican cities losing up to 60% through leakage from their old supply system (Dossier, 1997). Countries like Bangladesh, the Philippines and Thailand experience water losses of 50%. In Middle East Countries like Jordan, Yemen and others with rising water scarcity, more than 40% of the available water cannot be traced, (Chaturvedi, 2000). Huge amounts of water are present in the composition of the different minerals in the earth’s crust.

Rapid population growth and increasing water consumption for agriculture, industry and Municipalities have too heavily stressed the world’s freshwater resources. It is not surprising that, in some   areas the demand for water already exceeds nature’s supply with a growing number of countries expecting to face water shortages in the near future. Water shortage is becoming the greatest threat to food security, human health and natural ecosystems. Seckler (1999) points out there is an urgent need to focus the attention of Professionals and policy makers on the problem of groundwater depletion and pollution, particularly in the more arid and semi -arid regions of the world like Asia and the Middle East. Moreover, these regions contain some of the major bread baskets of the world such as the Punjab and the North China plain. Brooks (1999) identifies the origin of water stress stemming from three interacting crises which are:

1. Quantity: the economic crisis – demands for freshwater exceed the naturally Occurring, renewable supplies.
2. Quality: the ecological crisis – much of the limited water is being polluted from growing volumes of human, industrial and agricultural wastes.
3. Equity: the political crisis – the same water is desired simultaneously by different Sectors within a single society or nation or by different countries wherever it flows (probably via major river) through an international border.

The above discussion portrays a broad picture of water challenges worldwide. Africa being part of the world is also faced with water crisis particularly sub Saharan Africa. As of 2006, one third of all nations in Africa suffered from clean water scarcity, but Sub-Saharan Africa had the largest number of water-stressed countries of any other place on the planet and of an estimated 800 million people who live in Africa, 300 million live in a water stressed environment .Water Scarcity in Africa(2012) . According to findings presented at the 2012 Conference on “Water Scarcity in Africa: Issues and Challenges”, it was estimated that by 2030, 75 million to 250 million people in Africa will be living in areas of high water stress, which will likely displace anywhere between 24 million and 700 million people as conditions become increasingly unlivable.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (2006) estimates that 300 million out of the 800 million who live on the African continent live in a water-scarce environment. The rising global temperatures have increasing the risk of more extreme and frequent droughts. This significantly impacts the availability, quality and quantity of water due to reduced river flows and reservoir storage, lowering of water tables and drying up of aquifers in the northern and southern regions of Africa.

Included in the category of physical scarcity is the issue of overexploitation. This is contributing to the shrinking of many of Africa’s great lakes, including the Nakivale, Nakuru, and Lake Chad, which has shrunk to 10% of its former volume UNEP(2013). In terms of policy, the incentives for overuse are among the most damaging, especially concerning ground water extraction. For ground water, once the pump is installed, the policy of many countries is to only constrain removal based on the cost of electricity, and in many cases subsidize electricity costs for agricultural uses, which damages incentives to conserve such resources. Additionally, many countries within Africa set the cost of water well below cost-recovery levels, thus discouraging efficient usage and threatening sustainability.

Cameroon a tropical country,   receives great amount of rainfall and possess a dense hydrological network also suffers water scarcity and water stress because most of the available water is contaminated especially in the major cities of Yaounde and Douala JHPN (2010). The   residents of Yaounde searches for water outside the presidential palace at about 4 a.m., before the sun rises on this capital city of 2.4 million people Abong (2013). As the day goes by, hundreds of people from across the city come with their buckets and jerry cans as the line stretches into the distance until long after dark, even unto midnight. That has been the daily routine for some time. Taps have run dry in most parts of the city. In the best scenario, water comes for only a few hours, usually at night. Those who cannot come to Carrefour du Palais – or to other regularly supplied places like military barracks have turned to wells, streams and springs. Others are forced to drive to far out of town to fetch clean water.

According to Cam-water, a drop in the water level at major catchments has caused the problem. But it’s also clear that over the years, new infrastructure was not built to match the city’s rapidly growing population. The unplanned expansion of the sprawling city has also left entire neighborhood unconnected to the city’s water network. Residents of Yaounde queue daily for water near the presidential palace. (Courtesy UNICEF).

 According to Abong (2013) “About eight apartments on the bloc depend on a well,”  “You have to get up, line up at the well in the morning to be able to get some water for the day. At Carrefour du Palais, city dwellers congregate daily with large plastic containers, bottles and buckets. Some have to wait for two to three hours to take a turn at the spigot. Yaounde presently needs more than 300,000 cubic tons of water daily, but can only get about half of that. Last year, authorities planned to increase supply to 200,000 metric tons by December 2013, but water scarcity has only become worse. At the moment, the only hope is a plan to increase water supply to 500,000 metric tons in 2018 by tapping into the Sanaga, one of Cameroon’s largest rivers that flows north of the city Green Vision Newspaper (2016) In spite of Cameroon’s abundant fresh-water resources, water scarcity is a major problem not only in Yaounde but across the country.

According to Fai (2014) if water were life as it is said, Ndu town will be lifeless. This is because of the acute water scarcity experienced in Ndu town particularly in the months of December, January, February and March. The situation is such that regularly run dry; some small steams have dried up while some have reduced in size. Water has been tagged a rare commodity given that to get water at this period is difficult. Asses to water are a major predicaments and gradually it has reach a crisis level.

1.3 Statement of the problem

The population of Ndu Municipality has been increasing significantly over the years. Statistics from the Ndu council stipulates that, the population of Ndu was 61.717 in 1987, 85.048 by 1993, 173.955 by 2005 and an estimated population of 200000 persons by 2015. This tremendous increase of population in this area has made water to become a scarce and a crucial resource since people needs water for survival. Ndu Municipality is divided into three zones East, Center and West. The area of focus is on the central zone which is made up of Ndu town itself, Mbipgo, Njilah and Wowo. 90% of the inhabitants of the Ndu Municipality depend on agriculture for their livelihood where maize, beans, Solano potatoes, yams, vegetables, tomatoes are cultivated and animals as cattle, goats, horses, sheep, pigs, and fowls are reared. According to Cosgrove and Serageldon (2000), agriculture accounts for about 70% of all annual water withdrawals, industry about 20% and Domestic use about 10%.

Seasonal water resource shortage has been a major challenge within recent years in Ndu and its Environments. This seasonal water scarcity has been seen in the various aspects;

• Water is becoming a scarce and a crucial resource because people need water for survival. Ndu town particularly in the dry season suffer from severe water scarcity.
• The water supply tank in Ndu is unable to meet the needs of the increasing population. Stand taps run dry for many weeks leaving the inhabitants of Ndu to suffer greatly .Residents cover long distances in search for water. At the end of the day they may end up with impure or polluted water.
• Household with internal toilet systems suffer tremendously as there is not enough water to flush their toilets. Houses tend to have very bad odor as toilets may not be flushed for days .Even if toilets are flushed it may not be properly done.
• Water for other domestic uses such as laundry is also insufficient. In this case residents rally at the Mbohkfu catchment to do laundry where the laundry space is limited. People wait for many hours for others to finish their laundry before they can do theirs .At times the adults take advantage of the children by seizing their chance on the washing basin .At times some children may go back home with dresses unwashed.
• The 2014 water day was celebrated in Ndu in the Midst of water crisis. If water were life as it is said then Ndu and Nkambe may perhaps be eventually lifeless. Since November 2013, Nkambe, Ndu and Ako towns with its fast growing population have been in water crisis.
• Given the acute water scarcity in Ndu especially in the month of January to March water has to be rationed to the various quarter which makes the situation at times even much more difficult, according to the Eye News Paper (2013).

1.4 Research questions

The research question is made up of the main and specific questions.

1.4.1 Main research question

      The main research question consists in identifying what are the causes, severity and options for sustainability of water scarcity in Ndu?

1.4.2 Specific research questions.

            The specific research questions are as follows;

• What is the volume and regularity in the flow of pipe borne water to the households of Ndu?
• What is the current water supply trend compared to the past years?
• To what extent has water scarcity in Ndu impacted the lives of its inhabitants?
• What are the measures that can be put in place to alleviate the problem of water shortage in Ndu so as to ensure its sustainability?

1.5 Research objectives.

The research objectives are made up of the main and specific objectives.

• Main objective

The main objective of the study is to determine the causes, severity and options for sustainability of water scarcity in Ndu.

• Specific research objectives

The following specific objectives have been developed to guide this study;

• To determine the volume and regularity in flow of pipe borne water to the households of Ndu.
• To examine the current water supply trend compared to the past years.
• To assess the impact of water scarcity on the lives of the inhabitants of Ndu.
• To propose measures that can be put in place to alleviate the problem of water scarcity in Ndu and ensure its sustainability.