MOSHI Urban Water Supply and Sewerage (MUWSA) is a
Government agency offering water and sewerage services to the Moshi
Municipality with a population of about 144,000 people. It has started offering
services to those who reside out of the municipality. Like most Urban Water
Authorities (UWSAs) in Tanzania, MUWSA is an outcome of implementation of the
National Water Policy of 1991, which promulgated a flexible, autonomous and
self-financing water supply and sewerage regime. The policy proposed an
appropriate institutional framework that would ensure establishment of decentralized
autonomous entities for the management of water supply and sewerage services in
all urban centres. As a result of the policy, and following a number of studies
on the financing and management of operations and maintenance of urban water
supply and sewerage services in Tanzania, Urban Water Supply Departments
(UWSDs) were established in 19 regional towns, including Moshi. These UWSDs
were formed in 1994, as semiautonomous departments under advisory boards namely
UWSB’s. In 1998 the UWSDs were transformed into UWSAs as autonomous entities
with full operational, managerial and financial powers in accordance with Act
No. 8 of 1997. MUWSA plans to increase water production and subsequent supply
as it eyes to serve more people within and outside the municipality. Ms Joyce
Msiru is the Managing Director of MUWSA who says they have a strategic plan of
five years to envision how MUWSA operations should be structured and resources
allocated to meet the growing desire to improve service delivery in Moshi. Having
been issued with ISO Certificate for delivering quality services to its
customers MUWSA want to be the best water and sewerage utility in Tanzania,
they now look at the entire scope of MUWSA in formulating a unified mission for
improving service delivery. MUWSA undertake to make provision of adequate,
sustainable and competitive water and sewerage services to support life,
social, economic development and environment in Moshi. Ms Msiru says there have
been several projects and new ones being planned so as to see to it there is
enough water to existing and new customers. Currently MUWSA is in a process of
getting 1.5bn/- to invest on a new water source. Ms Msiru says the water
source, known as Mang’ana, is located at Uru North Ward in Moshi Rural
District, saying they have taken the initiative as getting enough water for
Moshi and nearby areas’ residents as soon as possible is in the authority’s
cards.
She notes that MUWSA is in the process of getting the funds from
different sources, unveiling that among them is getting a loan facility from
financial institutions so as to make the project a success. Once the project is
completed, the source will produce 6,912 cubic litres per day and would partly
serve people in the ward that is in highland area of Moshi. She said the local
government leaders from the ward wrote a letter to Moshi Rural District
Council, asking for the authority to put in place needed infrastructure for
production and supply of clean water. The project comes on board after the
citizens requested The Minister of Water, Eng Gerson Lwenge to consider them
getting water supply from the source. The engineer was in Moshi for
inauguration of Kisimeni Water Source at Uru South Ward in February this year.
The water source serves about 30,000 people in Longuo and Kariwa areas in Moshi
Municipality. There had been efforts under Moshi District Council to put
facilities for production and supply of water from the Mang’ana source since
1989 but proved futile, so that residents continued to fetch water from far-off
areas and buy from sellers who supply with gallons. While for sometimes MUWSA
was focused to supply water to the municipal residents, now have gone steps
further by serving residents in outskirts of the municipality. Those are in
Shabaha, Sanya Line B, Kariwa and Longuo. As of last week, 1,287 clients had
been connected to the water service. MUWSA seem to match President John
Magufuli’s speed, as in another water source - Kisimeni, they took only 80
days, as per their promise, to complete water project and now it is operational
since February 2016. It is situated at Uru South Ward, Moshi Rural District. That
is a success story as now more than 30,000 people are enjoying the service.
They no longer have to go far-off areas to fetch water or buy at a huge price
from youth who supply with wheelbarrow. Minister Lwenge says that the
government would fulfill its promises of making water available to the majority
of Tanzanians. He says it is government’s responsibility to ensure that people
get social services while the public is accountable to safeguard the projects. He
assures the public that his ministry is committed to have 85 per cent of rural
areas connected to water services and 95 per cent in urban areas by 2020. By
2025, he says, all areas in the country will have access to potable water. He
praises MUWSA leadership for its diligence, saying he did not expect that the
water scheme would be completed within 80 days of the president’s 100 days in
office. “This is an era in which people should work hard in production
activities and do away with politics as the general election is over,” he says.
He criticizes politicians who incite water users connected to MUWSA facilities
not to settle their monthly bills on the pretext that water is a God-given
gift. He says much as the government would like to provide the precious liquid
free of charge, it is difficult because there are operational costs involved
otherwise the projects would collapse. From early 1960s the Moshi urban
population was getting water from Nsere and Shiri springs. Currently MUWSA
water services cover about 85 percent of the population, a jump from 60 percent
in the 1980s. The average composition of the coverage, customers based, is 66
percent domestic, 17 percent institutional, 15 percent commercial and two
percent industrial markets. Water production stands at about 8.5 million cubic
meters a year. About 87 percent of the water comes from the springs of Mount
Kilimanjaro and flows by gravity. The remaining 13 percent is from a borehole.
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