NO WATER IN BOUAR

By Annitah Beth de Lacan | Fatima Lamine Hebdo

(Bouar, 24 April 2026 – LNC) In Bouar, in Nana Mambéré, as everywhere else in the country, people are searching for drinking water – or, when there is no electricity, for water – from the early hours of the morning, with queues forming around the few water points still in working order. With yellow jerrycans in hand, women, children and the elderly wait for hours in the hope of filling a few litres of water. A routine that has become burdensome, even worrying. Yet the Water Distribution Company (SODECA) and the National Water and Sanitation Agency are well established in the town. But when it comes to distributing the water, there is no one there. In fact, they face a host of problems: repeated cuts, infrastructure dating back to the colonial era – in short, the causes are manifold. As a result, many neighbourhoods go days, sometimes weeks, without a single drop of drinking water. Faced with this failure, residents have no choice but to turn to alternative sources: traditional wells, rivers or unregulated boreholes. With all the inherent health risks that entails.

LNC

Date: 24 April 2026

No water in Bouar

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