After many months of preparations, work started at the Buea Town Water project. This project entails a gravitational water system for 15,500 inhabitants of 6 communities around Buea Town. In the near future the system could be extended to 6 other communities, then serving over 25,000 inhabitants.
Our project managers Eyole and Jaba have been working alongside with the communities to create awareness of the path to follow in order to establish a sustainable social enterprise that is able to manage the water system in the long run. First, community involvement is created, soon training of the board will start.
Physical labour, tangible for the community members, generates trust within the community that actually something is happening. This really helps our team to create the right mind set for a change. One of those big changes is that there is need for each household to pay for water. As these communities are slightly more urban then other communities we work with, we expect this step will take less time.
The next months, two catchments, storage tanks, stand taps and pipelines will be constructued and partly renovated. By April water will flow in the first communities.