Kumbo water scarcity aggravates

By Njodzefe Nestor

Water being carried from doubtful sources

It is 5 am in Lun, a small village kumbo, Bui Division of the North West region. Children, men and women of various ages in their hundreds are crowded around a small stream each waiting for their turn to carry “drinking water”.

                This medieval scenario which is recurrent day and night and playing in almost all villages in kumbo is the result of an excruciating water crisis that has been ongoing for some time now and described by many as the worst the town has experienced in recent times.

                The water scarcity has reportedly sparked social discomforts and economic losses to the population likewise social and health facilities.

                According to Njobam Joanna, an administrator at the Bui divisional delegation of public health, the social results of the scarcity are nippy.

                “For some time now, the cleaners have not been able to proper cleaning around here because of the near epileptic supply of water. All the toilets are messy. There is dire need for something to be done to salvage the situation” she noted.

                Ambo Marcel a civil servant in one of the divisional delegations in kumbo, the situation is a cause for concern.

                “I wake up every day by 2: 00am, to check if my tap is running and Most of the time I check for two days continuously with no success. This situation changes my schedule daily because something I would have done earlier, I now have to add fetching of water to my activities” he revealed to this reporter.

                With the situation degenerating by the day, medical institutions in Kumbo have indicated that people consulting with water related diseases like typhoid, cholera, intestinal parasitic diseases have increased.

                According to sources at the Government owned Kumbo sub divisional Hospital, within the October 2016 to March 2017 the number of people consulting with water borne diseases has tripled.

                According to Madam VibanSerophine, a nurse at the said hospital, most of these cases can be linked to doubtful water sources which she attests are a resulted of the water scarcity.

                This was corroborated by NjiEzekeil and Nyuykighan Margaret, all nurses who work at the consultation units of the two renowned mission hospitals in kumbo.

                To this they appealed that that the powers that be should do something to salvage the situation warning that a big epidemic awaits kumbo if the measures are not immediate.

                The prolonged scarcity has been blamed on the inability of the interim committee set by the Bui Administration to manage the Kumbo water supply system initiated in the late 1960’s and completed in 1972 and the failure of CAMWATER to officially take over management after it was handed to them on December 19 by Prime Minister, Philemeon Yang when Kumbo Council and Kumbo Water Authority on one hand and NSODA and the Fon of Nso on the other agreed to disagree over who should manage.

                This infectiveness and power tussle resulted to the near abandonment of the main water source at Yeh and the sporadic building, farming and abusive planting of eucalyptus trees in and around water catchments and on water sources.

                The result of this man made and climate change related factors, environmentalists have been quick to observe has led to the reduction in the water level a consequence of the crisis.