This ethnographic study investigates the complex interplay between formal and informal water governance institutions in Cameroon’s Far North Region, a semi-arid zone experiencing heightened water stress and intercommunal conflict. Through sustained fieldwork in the Logone and Chari river basins, the research analyses how state-led frameworks, such as the Cameroon Water Utilities Corporation (CAMWATER), interact with customary authorities and local water-user associations in practice. The findings reveal that institutional fragmentation and elite capture of water points exacerbate existing social cleavages, often transforming resource competition into violent confrontation. The article argues that effective conflict prevention requires a hybrid governance model that formally recognises and integrates legitimate customary practices into a coherent, equitable, and adaptive regulatory framework.