Revisiting water resources management in the Mandara Mountains
This article evaluates the prospects for rainwater harvesting (RWH) as a means of optimizing water management in the Mandara Mountains. RWH is a small-scale water conservation approach for locally intercepting and storing rainfall before it enters the usual hydrologic cycle. This ancient practice ha...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Heliyon |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844025000726 |
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| author | Diane Madomguia Esther Laurentine Nya Emma Laureane Njomou-Ngounou Nadège Gatcha-Bandjun Tulinave Burton Mwamila Jules Balna Emina Halimassia Jules Metsebo Wilfried Arsène Letah Nzouebet Raoul Rodrigue Tchoumbe André Firmin Bon Willis Gwenzi Chicgoua Noubactep |
| author_facet | Diane Madomguia Esther Laurentine Nya Emma Laureane Njomou-Ngounou Nadège Gatcha-Bandjun Tulinave Burton Mwamila Jules Balna Emina Halimassia Jules Metsebo Wilfried Arsène Letah Nzouebet Raoul Rodrigue Tchoumbe André Firmin Bon Willis Gwenzi Chicgoua Noubactep |
| author_sort | Diane Madomguia |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article evaluates the prospects for rainwater harvesting (RWH) as a means of optimizing water management in the Mandara Mountains. RWH is a small-scale water conservation approach for locally intercepting and storing rainfall before it enters the usual hydrologic cycle. This ancient practice has recently sustained lives in semiarid areas of the world (e.g. Brazil, China), but is not yet really used in the Mandara Mountains of Cameroon where people are still lacking safe drinking water. Recently, RWH was also demonstrated as the missing puzzle in integrated water resources management (IWRM) not only in areas facing water scarcity. The present article aims to prepare large scale RWH in the Mandara Mountains. Water harvesting yields are estimated for residential roofs, administrative and confessional buildings, and agricultural areas (e.g. farm scale). The results show that RWH is an affordable, applicable, and attractive tool for both rural and urban communities to sustainably solve the long-lasting problem of lack of safe drinking water in the Mandara Mountains. Moreover, despite the short rainy season, RWH may provide enough irrigation water to mitigate dry spells and increase agricultural and livestock productivity. This study is regarded as a blueprint for planning sustainable water management in the Mandara Mountains. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f0f9f2d17dc148758070fc2bb14b15f0 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2405-8440 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Heliyon |
| spelling | doaj-art-f0f9f2d17dc148758070fc2bb14b15f02025-01-17T04:51:55ZengElsevierHeliyon2405-84402025-01-01111e41692Revisiting water resources management in the Mandara MountainsDiane Madomguia0Esther Laurentine Nya1Emma Laureane Njomou-Ngounou2Nadège Gatcha-Bandjun3Tulinave Burton Mwamila4Jules Balna5Emina Halimassia6Jules Metsebo7Wilfried Arsène Letah Nzouebet8Raoul Rodrigue Tchoumbe9André Firmin Bon10Willis Gwenzi11Chicgoua Noubactep12Department of Hydraulics and Water Management, National Advanced School of Engineering, University of Maroua, P.O. Box 58, Maroua, CameroonFaculty of Arts, Letters and Social Sciences University of Bertoua, P.O. Box: 416, Bertoua, Cameroon; Eau Potable Pour Tous (EPPT), P.O. Box 9362, Bangangté, CameroonDepartment of Geography, University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, P.O. Box 755, CameroonDepartment of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Box 118, University of Ebolowa, Cameroon; Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Box 46, University of Maroua, CameroonWater Institute, Ministry of Water, Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 35059, Tanzania; NTWAM Water & Environment Initiative, P.O. Box 1041, Dar es Salaam, TanzaniaFaculty of Arts, Letters and Social Sciences, University of Maroua, Maroua, P.O. Box 644, CameroonFaculty of Arts, Letters and Social Sciences, University of Maroua, Maroua, P.O. Box 644, CameroonDepartment of Hydraulics and Water Management, National Advanced School of Engineering, University of Maroua, P.O. Box 58, Maroua, CameroonDepartment of Hydraulics and Water Management, National Advanced School of Engineering, University of Maroua, P.O. Box 58, Maroua, CameroonFaculty of Science and Technology, Campus of Banekane, Université des Montagnes, P.O. Box 208, Bangangté, CameroonDepartment of Meteorology and Climatology, National Advanced School of Engineering, University of Maroua, P.O. Box 58, Maroua, Cameroon; Department of Basic and Applied Fundamental Sciences, Higher Institute of Agriculture, Forestry, Water and Environment, Box 118, University of Ebolowa, CameroonBiosystems and Environmental Engineering Research Group, 380 Adylin, Westgate, Harare, ZimbabweFaculty of Science and Technology, Campus of Banekane, Université des Montagnes, P.O. Box 208, Bangangté, Cameroon; Centre for Modern Indian Studies (CeMIS), University of Göttingen, Waldweg 26, D-37073, Göttingen, Germany; Department of Applied Geology, University of Göttingen, Goldschmidtstraße 3, D-37077, Göttingen, Germany; Corresponding author. Department of Applied Geology, University of Göttingen, Goldschmidtstraße 3, D-37077 Göttingen, Germany.This article evaluates the prospects for rainwater harvesting (RWH) as a means of optimizing water management in the Mandara Mountains. RWH is a small-scale water conservation approach for locally intercepting and storing rainfall before it enters the usual hydrologic cycle. This ancient practice has recently sustained lives in semiarid areas of the world (e.g. Brazil, China), but is not yet really used in the Mandara Mountains of Cameroon where people are still lacking safe drinking water. Recently, RWH was also demonstrated as the missing puzzle in integrated water resources management (IWRM) not only in areas facing water scarcity. The present article aims to prepare large scale RWH in the Mandara Mountains. Water harvesting yields are estimated for residential roofs, administrative and confessional buildings, and agricultural areas (e.g. farm scale). The results show that RWH is an affordable, applicable, and attractive tool for both rural and urban communities to sustainably solve the long-lasting problem of lack of safe drinking water in the Mandara Mountains. Moreover, despite the short rainy season, RWH may provide enough irrigation water to mitigate dry spells and increase agricultural and livestock productivity. This study is regarded as a blueprint for planning sustainable water management in the Mandara Mountains.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844025000726Annual floodingIntegrated water resources managementKilimanjaro conceptLandscape restorationMandara mountainsRainwater harvesting |
| spellingShingle | Diane Madomguia Esther Laurentine Nya Emma Laureane Njomou-Ngounou Nadège Gatcha-Bandjun Tulinave Burton Mwamila Jules Balna Emina Halimassia Jules Metsebo Wilfried Arsène Letah Nzouebet Raoul Rodrigue Tchoumbe André Firmin Bon Willis Gwenzi Chicgoua Noubactep Revisiting water resources management in the Mandara Mountains Heliyon Annual flooding Integrated water resources management Kilimanjaro concept Landscape restoration Mandara mountains Rainwater harvesting |
| title | Revisiting water resources management in the Mandara Mountains |
| title_full | Revisiting water resources management in the Mandara Mountains |
| title_fullStr | Revisiting water resources management in the Mandara Mountains |
| title_full_unstemmed | Revisiting water resources management in the Mandara Mountains |
| title_short | Revisiting water resources management in the Mandara Mountains |
| title_sort | revisiting water resources management in the mandara mountains |
| topic | Annual flooding Integrated water resources management Kilimanjaro concept Landscape restoration Mandara mountains Rainwater harvesting |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405844025000726 |
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