Too much water lost to urban leaks and theft

WATER minister Prof Makame Mbarawa has instructed water boards across the country to find workable solutions to curb the serious growing problem of theft of the resource.

WATER MINISTER PROF MAKAME MBARAWA.

Governments and aid organisations could have a significant impact by tackling the issue of water wasted due to leakages.   “By fixing water leakages and addressing water pilferage, it is possible for water utilities in the region to cut the amount of water lost to less than 20 per cent of their water supply.

According to him, huge amount of water is being stolen and not a normal loss caused by infrastructure leakages. The culprits of water theft are doing illegal connections of water while others selling it to others thus brining losses to the government.

Speaking yesterday here during the event to bid farewell to the former board of the Tanga Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authority, Tanga, (UWASA) and welcoming the new one, Prof Mbarawa wanted the new board to be innovative and work on finding solutions to improve water services in the region.

“Water boards have a big role to play to curb water theft, so I want you to fulfill your obligations to make sure that the resource is well protected tom serve the current and future generations,” he said.

He wanted boards to work diligently to curb corruption within  the projects for the sake of the nation.

According to him, there are some boards which had been entertained corruption from contractors thus end up producing substandard projects.

Earlier, Tanga-UWASA executive director Hilly Jofrey said that the incoming board becomes the seventh since the establishment of the authority they have all worked hard to bring positive incomes in the area

“We have reached 97 per cent of Tanga residents   supplied with water services which is an outcome of the good team work done by the water board and the authority’s staff.

He further called upon members of the public to inform the authority when suspecting any person implicated in water theft. “If every citizen would play a role to protect   the precious liquid, there will no more water blues in the area.”

Tanga Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authority (Tanga UWASA) is competitively utility in the Tanzanian water Sector, supplying clean and safe water and provides sewerage services in Tanga City.

Reports shows that, only 50 per cent of Tanzania’s population had access to an improved sources of safe water, and only 34 per cent of Tanzania’s population had access to improved sanitation. Under these circumstances, the poor, particularly women and girls spend a significant amount of time traveling some distances to collect water