STEM needless loss of water
Water authorities in various parts of the country have over the years been struggling – with little success – to curb water loss blamed on rundown infrastructure. It is a longstanding problem that is prevalent in almost all urban areas.
In Dar es Salaam, for instance, a sizeable amount of the water supplied by Dawasa goes to waste before reaching consumers.
Worn-out and poorly maintained infrastructure and supply networks are the most common cause of water loss. There are pipes that were laid during the British colonial era in Dar es Salaam which are still in use to this day. Water gushing from broken or poorly installed pipes is a common sight in Dar es Salaam and other urban areas, where public utilities supply only a tiny fraction of the actual demand even in the best of times.
The problem with water that is lost before reaching consumers is that nobody pays for it.
Few consumers connected to water mains bother to report broken pipes carrying the commodity to their homes for the simple reason that they don’t pay for water that is lost before going through their meters.
While water supply firms have an obligation to maintain their infrastructure, the least that is expected of consumers is to report broken pipes so that they can be repaired immediately.
