Impact of urbanisation on the Mingosso watershed in the Yaounde periurban zone

Abstract

In the peripheral quarters of Yaounde city, population settlement is not regulated according to
particular standards of land-use. The Mingosso watershed, which covers a surface area of 3.856 km²
and which is administratively located in the Yaounde 6th district, was studied to identify the impacts of
this type of settlement upon the flow and the quality of groundwater. The physico-chemical variation of
groundwater, a bacteriological analysis of water and a survey named “water-population-habitat” were
carried out. The population growth rate between 2000 and 2005 was 24.55%. Without town planning,
91.2% of the population settled within the watershed, are not connected to piped supply network of
drinkable water, leading to an increasing demand for groundwater wells and the degradation of overall
aquifer quality. Groundwater has a diffuse mineralization, which is higher in densely populated zones
than in zones under construction with a low population density.