The Development of Water Management Institutions and the Provision for Water Delivery in Cameroon: History and Futures<sup>16</sup>

Abstract

This paper examines past scenarios and future prospects for the development of water management institutions and provisions for water delivery in Cameroon. The major aim of the paper is to reconstruct the history of water management that led to the current water delivery system in Cameroon using the exploratory approach of data analysis supported with diagrams. As a result, data obtained from personal observation and secondary sources were used to capture the objectives of the inquiry. The paper observed that despite the classification of Cameroon as a water surplus country; the country’s 18 million inhabitants confront the hardships from day to day and experience a low level of standard of living. This is due to the piecemeal occurrence of water development process over time from pre-colonial period to present. The non-existence of proper water policy and water law in the presence of water structures that are not properly developed in a young democracy have, thus, reinforced the situation of poor provisioning of water in the country. Consequently, the paper concludes that the poor provisioning of water in Cameroon is attributed to the lack of development of water management institutions and structures; it suggests a set of broad guidelines for developing water institutions.KEY WORDS: Water management, water institutions, water delivery, policy, Cameroon