Water leakage massive in Dar, Ewura study reveals

Dar es Salaam. More than 55.5 per cent of water leaks in Dar es Salaam. The rate is higher than the recommended range of 20 per cent.

An Energy and Water Utility Regulatory Authority (Ewura) report for 2012/13, shows that Bukoba follows Dar es Salaam in losing a lot of water.

Ewura studied 24 water authorities and established that none of them kept water wastage at below 20 per cent.

However, the water loss for eight authorities was below 30 per cent. Shinyanga was the leading, followed by Morogoro, Geita, Bariadi, Tanga, Songea, Moshi and Singida.

With that situation in Dar es Salaam, access to water is a problem with less than 50 per cent of the city citizens getting it, according to the Ewura report.

It said scramble for water intensified, resulting in vandalism of water facilities.

In some areas, The Citizen observed that some water pipes were cut off, leaving the liquid flowing.

Water is expensive in Dar es Salaam, with a bucketful of it sold at between Sh200 and Sh700.

“I pay Sh700 per bucket,” said Fauzia Jumanne.

In 2012/13, water authorities lost more than Sh112 billion from water leakages and theft. The amount is equivalent to 44 per cent of the water lost.