Abstract

Fidelis Folifac, Lydia Lifongo, George Nkeng and Susan Gaskin

Source water contamination poses a risk to public health and increases the cost of drinking water treatment. Source water protection is a proactive approach for the enhancement of drinking water quality and quantity. A combination of research methods (desk review, interviews and reconnaissance field appraisal) have been used to identify major drinking water sources in Buea, land use activities which constitute potential threats and pathways of contamination of these sources as well as the capacity for source water protection in Buea. Our findings revealed that anthropogenic activities around the six major drinking water sources studied present visible potential threats and pathways for contamination, and that source water protection has not been given adequate attention in the planning and development of Buea. The potential human and social capacities are limited by the lack of financial and technical resources. This is further compounded by the fact that institutional arrangement does not facilitate the integration of land and water management at the local level. A framework for local strategic multi-stakeholder source water protection with the potential to foster leadership, pull together available resources from different stakeholders and reduce potential resistance to the integration of land and water management has been proposed. There is an urgent need for the adoption of a precautionary approach and research to develop baseline data that will enable comprehensive source water protection measures.