Arusha set to produce 200m litres of water

                                     

ARUSHA may be a city but soon the urban centre may soon become a fountain which churns out
Presenting a report on the proposed grand water project for the city and its environs, the Managing Director for Arusha Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authority, Engineer Ruth Koya said her authority is to start with the drilling of more than 56 deep water wells.

The wells’ drilling works are to be executed by AUWSA through the Korea Engineering Consultants Corporation of South Korea, in Association with Chell Engineering Company Limited from China and Tanzania’s own DOCH Limited.

The contract to that effect was inked between the Arusha Urban Water Authority (AUWSA) and the three firms was signed on transparency basis at the Central Market open grounds in Bondeni Street of Arusha as hundreds of the city residents watched.

According to the Minister for Water and Irrigation, Eng Isack Kamwelwe who graced the signing ceremony; “This is a project to cater for Arusha Residents and therefore all people need to witness it being signed so that they may feel to be part of the project and thus take total control of the water project including helping to protect the facility,” he said.

The official report from Arusha Urban Water Supply and Environment Sanitation Authority indicate that the project starts with eleven wells to be drilled among other areas; Magereza, Tengeru, Mbuguni and Usa-River in Arumeru District, Arusha Region, as well as Maji-Moto in Hai District of Kilimanjaro.

At the moment AUWSA produces 40 million litres of water per day against its daily needs of more than 95 million litres -- which means there is shortage of 55 million litres.

The Government is bankrolling an ambitious water scheme for Arusha City and its suburbs to the tune of nearly 500 billion/- through this project which is to run for the next four years with financial support from the African Development Bank.

The Arusha Sustainable Urban Water and Environment Sanitation Delivery Project is to be executed at the cost of $234 million (0.5 trillion/-) -- expected to triple the city’s water consumption from the current 40,000 cubic meters to over 105 cubic meters per day.

The existing clean water pipes network measures just 312km in to tal but the new project will expand this to nearly 580km of service lines. The amount of water loss, especially through daily leaking, would also be cut down from 40 to 20 percent.

Arusha City plus its environs has slightly more than 500,000 permanent residents, but those currently covered under the AUWSA water services average at 325,000 but the new scheme will see that the number of beneficiaries double to 600,000 which means almost every person in town will be served to a surplus.