Alatening Community Water Project

The village is made up of 10 quarters (neighbourhoods), namely Munjuh, Mesing, Ngoh Nilap, Ngoh Quifor, Fare Fare, Tendong, Njinechi, Alabong 1, Alabong 2 and Ntare.  The governance structure of the village includes the Fon of the village, supported by the Council of Elders (Traditional Council), a Village Council, a Women’s Council (Takembeng) and Quarter Heads.

The village has a rich cultural heritage and ethnic diversity, including Muslims (mostly settled on the hilltop plains due to the pastoral activities) and Christians who are mostly settled in low lying areas and along the main road crossing through the  village.

Problem Statement

 Water is life and no community can sustainably develop within access to water and clean drinking water. Alatening village does not benefit from public water supply and the members of the village have traditionally relied on using and drinking untreated water obtained from streams. The absence of reliable clean drinking water and sanitation services in the village has resulted in reduced agricultural  productivity, increased farmer/grazer conflict due to poor management of water catchments and increased incidents of water born  infections for children, women and the vulnerable. In 2020, the global pandemic and its impacts on Alatening, further demonstrated the several challenges in implementing the measures introduced to reduce the spread of the virus. The reliance on clean water and sanitation services in rural communities to curb the spread of the COVID 19 pandemic has brought to the fore the urgency of having water and sanitation services in rural communities as Alatening. 

Community Water Development Projects in Alatening and Challenges

Water is life and no community can sustainably develop within access to water and clean drinking water. One of the challenges faced by villagers is the absence of potable water, because Alatening has  never been duly supplied with public drinking water.

 Historically, the village had several water catchments,  which provided significant surface water flows to natural rivers that which supplied water for agriculture and animal husbandry activities. Since 1957, the people of Alatening have raised funds and develop a number of water schemes in parts of the village; all with varying degrees of success.

  The first gravity water supply system was constructed in 1967 by Alatening Community Development. This scheme was very limiting as it had only one public stand tap and the water not distributed to other parts of the village. In 1992 another scheme was developed out by denizens of some quarters, with limited coverage. This scheme existed till late 2015 when the pipes supplying water to a number of areas were destroyed part of a separate road construction project. There is the need to rehabilitate the water storage tanks and catchments for this scheme. In 2010, another scheme was carried out in another quarter and ended only with the catchment due to limited funding. 

The three gravity feed community water schemes that have been developed in Alatening have had mixed results and challenges including the following: 

  1. inadequate design (including low pressures) and limited coverage with several parts of the village not having access to water; 
  2. poor water catchment management resulting in reduced flows;
  3. lack of maintenance and effective community water management committees, resulting in dilapidation and    wastages. 

 These schemes also did not account for the population growth of the village as well as the  access to other parts of the village which may have required alternative forms of water supply, e.g. groundwater from boreholes. 

Redefining the concept of community water supply in Alatening

In order to provide access to clean and potable water to the entire village, the following needs to be undertaken:  

  1. Develop a holistic approach integrating sustainable water catchment management  and agricultural practices with broad based community support in order to implement a community water supply scheme that will meet the current  and future needs of the Alatening people; particularly in relation to sustainable development and improved livelihoods; 
  2. Rehabilitate the infrastructure from the existing projects and also extent the infrastructure to provide water to the entire village;
  3. Redesign the gravity fed systems such that there is sufficient head and pressure to provide suitable water to all parts of the village; 
  4. Assess the potential of using groundwater sources to supply water in areas which are not accessible by gravity fed systems; and 
  5. Develop sustainable management practices around the existing water catchments.

The project will directly benefit Alatening village including all the schools (primary, secondary schools) and communal, spiritual and recreational areas such as the village market, community squares, agricultural activities, churches and the Alatening Multipurpose Community Hall. Indirectly, water will also be available to other neighbouring villages.

The project will generate significant positive environmental impacts, including increased access to clean drinking water and regeneration of water catchment areas.

Detailed Project Concept and Costs

A detailed Concept for the Alatening Community Water project has been developed and subject to sufficient funding being available, it is expected that detailed design, construction and delivery of the project will occur between Q3 2022 and Q1 2023, depending on the availability of resources.

The projected costs for the entire scheme, including the Year 1 operation and maintenance (O & M)  90.3 Million FCFA/$153,595/€ 135,525/£117,455. The Year 1 O&M costs includes maintenance costs and it is expected that by the start of Year 2 of operation, the Water Management Committee will be fully operational and would have engaged extensively with the stakeholders in the village towards making a nominal contribution towards a Water Fund for maintenance and repairs.

To date, about 45% of the project costs has been mobilised from the sons and daughters of Alatening. There is the need to mobilise external funding to start and complete this critical project for the people of Alatening and its environs. ACDA welcomes generous donations and contributions to help it deliver this water project which will be a precursor to other addressing other development challenges for Alatening. ACDA will issue official receipts for tax rebate purposes as required.  

There is an urgent need to raise these funds to provide this critical infrastructure and access to clean water for the Alatening people and neighbouring villages. Donations can be made via: (i) ACDA Bank Account No Union Bank of Cameroon, Acc No 001 0001 5502 Bamenda, Cameroon; (ii) Our website: www.alatening.org ; (iii) ACDA President or Executive Member; (iv) Alatening Credit Union Account No 400