An article published inside the International Journal of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering
Website: http://www.academicjournals.org/IJWREE (ISSN 1991-637X © 2013 Academic Journals,          DOI: IJWREE-01.03.13-0391 Vol. 5(5), pp. 236-244, May, 2013)

Boniface EFON¹*, Denis NTAMACK², Emmanuel YAMB³ and Thomas TAMO TATIETSE²
1-FASA, The University of Dschang, P. O. Box 222, Cameroon.
2-Laboratory of Civil Engineering and Design Sciences, Department of Civil Engineering, ENSP, the University of Yaoundé I, P. O. Box 8390, Cameroon.
3-Department of Civil Engineering, Higher Teachers Technical Training College, University of Bamenda,  P.O. Box 227 Bamenda, Cameroon.

ABSTRACT

By reason of its necessity, habitat is a fundamental index in the description of the standard of living in a society. This habitat has at the center of its design and function water for consumption and sanitation. The procurement of these two essential elements for life is still a problem in Africa, particularly in Sub- Saharan Africa. Every scheme relevant to the raising of the standard of living of the populations must be based on habitat; the lack of mastery of its typology gravely hinders economic growth. The characterization of human habitat equally avoids waste and additional costs which could be generated by wrong forecasting of the elements which characterize habitat. We propose a model of characterization of human habitat in a country in Sub-Saharan country, which takes into account access to potable water and sanitation. To do this, a household survey and data analysis must be carried out and the results would permit the implementation of this model whose flowchart will characterize the habitat in number and different housing qualities. An application was done to Cameroon by relying on the data obtained from the third general population and habitat census in 2008 and the results obtained give seven types of habitat with many levels of housing quality.

Key words: Habitat, characterization, potable water, sanitation, typology, data analysis, Cameroon.