About half of Cameroon's rural population and some 42 per cent of urban residents have no access to potable water, according to the country's ministry of mines, water and power. "Waterborne diseases such as amoebic infections, typhoid fever and malaria are common as people are forced to drink the contaminated water,' says Martin Paul Ondoua, deputy director of the country's water department. Hindrances in the privatisation of the National Water Company are also obstructing the implementation of urban water projects, rues Ondoua.