TOWARDS IMPROVEMENT OF WATER CRISIS IN TANZANIA:

STAKEHOLDERS of the water industry in the country have been experiencing many challenges and hardships towards the development of the water sector, the result of which have not been providing solutions to a better achievement. One doubtful report is whether Tanzanian water sector strategies will be able to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The strategies aims to ensure an effective supply of a clean and safe water to its people as endorsed in the Water Ministry’s program of decade for action 2005-2015. As the saying goes, the issue of water scarcity in the country has been the order of the day. It’s water, water, water everywhere as from the household taps to rural family homes. But if one may ask to find out where has all the water gone? Stakeholders including government authorities and the individual concerned, remains dumb or even turns a blind eye and eventually no solutions to the problem. Women and their children including men almost in all areas prone to water scarcity in the country search for water everyday in virtually all cities, towns and even in rural vicinity. They have to walk long distances in search of this precious commodity but to no avail. The chronic water shortage in many areas is causing a serious concern to all and sundry. Study shows that, the main problems in rural communities are long treks that culminates walking long distances of about 2 to 3 kilometers daily in search of water from public tap carrying heavy containers on their heads of about 20 to 25 litres per trips.

Will the Ministry of water development be able to meet the MDGs?
A woman is drawing water from a hand pumping machine in a rural village in Tanzania.

Long queues at the point of water taps is also another problem and this situation stagnates other economic activities. Should there be contamination at these common points the whole village is likely at risk. From time immemorial, this old adage of water everywhere but not a drop to drink continues to stare at the faces of Tanzanians now for the last 47 years after independence. Moreover, the debate rages on as whether water scarcity is due to lack of resources, human capacity or bureaucracy. In Dar es Salaam city for example, despite of its 4 million population of the people, the story remains the same for the better part of the independent years. Half of its suburbs which depends on water sources from Ruvu Juu are sometimes faced by water crisis. A resident of Ilala suburb in the city, Sheik Mzee Ramadhani Hamisi, blames the government and local authority ministry of giving city dwellers a raw deal despite payment to the authorities and taxes to the government for the improvement of water infrastructures. He says, it was hard for the government to justify taxation to the city dwellers while they are exposed to all sorts of diseases associated with lack of adequate water in their household surroundings. However, a high ranking official from the Dar es Salaam Water & Sewerage Corporation (DAWASCO) was quoted recently as saying that, “the big city of Dar es Salaam would continue experiencing water shortage due to poor underground infrastructural facilities e.g old water pipes which seems to have been outdated and needs urgent replacement.
The Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Alex Kaaya said that chances of having reliable water supply within the city are very minimal at the moment citing on the failure of short rains which have led to the sharp drop of water level from the main source of water supply in Kizinga and Ruvu rivers. According to him, in order to avert the situation his organization is currently working out plans to rehabilitate several boreholes in the city in case the condition got worse. But careful observers have noted that most of these wells might not work to satisfy people’s needs as most of them are empowered by electricity whose supply in the city is unreliable. This is yet another scenario caused owing to frequent power blackouts culminating from water shortage from its generating sources.

A woman is drawing water from a man made water well. African continent, south of Sahara desert is faced with acute shortage of clean water

Water blues to some extent might be caused by insufficient water rainfall. Apart from boreholes and other drilling water wells, dry spell is rigorously a cause of inadequate water supply, says an anonymous water engineer in the ministry of water development.
Water is a fundamental natural resource for social economic development. Since the Millennium summit’s declaration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000 as an agenda for reducing poverty and improving lives of the people in the world, Tanzania has been spearheading various strategic actions for achieving these targets but unfortunately they have proved futile. Because of the growth of world population and other factors, the availability of drinking water per capita is shrinking. The issue of water shortage can be solved through more production, better distribution and less waste of it.
Experts predicts more trouble ahead because of the world’s growing population, increasing contamination through pollution, and global warming. While the world's population tripled in the 20th century, the use of renewable water resources has grown six-fold. Statistics shows that within the next fifty years, the world population will increase by another 40 to 50 %. This population growth coupled with industrialization and urbanization will result in an increasing demand for water and will have serious consequences on the environment. Despite the fact that Tanzania is endowed with second fresh water Lake in the world, the country’s urban centers in Lake Victoria Basin are the hardest hit by water scarcity. As a result water borne diseases besides malaria has remained health issues all year around.

Women drawing water from the well in African rural village. The problem of safe water is still a great problem to most people living in African rural areas. (Photo by courtesy of west Africa based Panos media organisation)

Such urban centers are like Musoma, Bukoba and Mwanza city, and the same story extends to the neighboring towns of Homa-Bay, Kisumu and Mbita, and Entebbe, Jinja and Kampala city in the neighboring countries of Kenya and Uganda respectively. All these towns are connected by the Lake Victoria Regional Local Authorities Cooperation (LAVRLAC) and a joint cooperation is underway through the initiative by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) to bring sustainable use of water resources in these towns and cities. However, the Provincial Director of Environment of the lake region, Mr. Maurice Otieno, says a sanitation condition in these towns and cities is actually appalling due to discharge of raw sewerage that has polluted the lake. According to him, this has made the lake water to be unfit for human consumption in most cases.
During the decade of action to be implemented by the fourth phase government under the philosophy of new vigor for the betterment of people’s life, Tanzania will implement prudent strategic actions that will excel progress in achieving the MDGs on water and sanitation. To meet these objectives President Jakaya Kikwete had directed the ministry of Water development to come up with special programs to facilitate water availability instead of investing in improving the infrastructure as stipulated in the 2005 CCM election manifesto. The President urged the concerned Ministry to campaign vigorously against environmental degradation because it is to blame for the current water crisis in the country. Under the Ministry’s Medium Term Strategic Plan (MTSP) targets of improving the provision of water services countrywide, this aims at ensuring people to get an easy access to this precious commodity just within the perimeters of 400 meters away from the main water pipes by 2015. The general thrust of the water sector is to ensure that all men, women and children are able to access clean, affordable safe water and sanitation. The operational targets are increasing the population with access to clean and safe water from the current 53 percent to 90 percent by 2015.