The fragility of Lake Chad’s existence due to climate change and anthropogenic activities has been demonstrated by several scientific articles in physics-chemistry, water chemistry and climatology, as well as studies in the human and social sciences, notably anthropology and sociology. The aim of this study is to investigate the population of the North and North-West of the Central African Republic, the Lake Chad basin, in order to understand all the existing uncertainties which will contribute to the definition of new preventive solutions for the sustainability of water resource management. In human societies, water potential reveals modes of social organization, local socio-political dynamics, power relations and the legitimization of status and social roles. Around water resources, actors with opposing interests confront and clash, making this natural and cultural heritage an «arena» at the heart of social organization. This implies that water potential is one of the «resources most closely interwoven with social and cultural relations», and appears to be a vector of social transformation. This work has highlighted the advent of inter-community conflicts caused by cross-border transhumance, the abandonment of local knowledge on water use, water pollution from mining and the destruction of the ecosystem that protects water resources in the southern slopes of the basin.