Sh1bn to boost Dodoma water supply

 The Dodoma Urban Water Supply and Sewage Authority (Duwasa) has set aside a total of Sh1.04 billion in its budget for this fiscal year for improvement of water supply in Dodoma Municipality.

The money will be sourced from Duwasa’s internal sources.

The plan will enable the authority to provide sufficient water that meets the growing demands of the capital town, which is witnessing rapid expansion ever since the government decided to relocate its seat from Dar es Salaam.

Government data shows that already over 2,000 of its servants have already moved to Dodoma.

Speaking during an exclusive interview to The Citizen yesterday, Duwasa technical manager Kashilimu Mayunga revealed that the demand for water in Dodoma Municipality stood at 46 million litres a day, but the authority had a capacity of pumping out about 61.5 million litres of water per day.

“This means, there is an excess of at least 15 million litres of water per day, which is enough to serve a total of 100,000 people,” Mr Mayunga said.

He said that as of March 2016, Duwasa had constructed a water distribution network covering 427.3 kilometres within the municipality, and the plan was now to construct 478 kilometres more in order to provide water in new areas.

“With the support of the Ministry of Water and Irrigation to the tune of Sh500 million, we’ve managed to implement a Sh870 million project of extending water networks to new areas of Mahungu, Ndachi, Chidachi, Makulu, Mlimwa C, Chidachi and Miganga,” he said.

The engineer, however, expressed optimism that the completion of the Farkwa Dam Water Project (FDWP) would slash to zero water woes in the entire region.

He said the $420 million World Bank funded project would help in storing water up to an elevation of 1,110 metres above the sea level, with inundation area of around 48 square kilometres, and will have a height of 35 metres with estimated total storage of volume of 290,000 cubic metres to 850,000 cubic metres.

“The project will add at least 128 million litres to the current 61.5 million litres that we distribute in a day for the municipality,” Mr Mayunga added.