Morogoro, TZ – Water project – 31 Mar 2013

Sanitation and Water Action (SAWA) of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania has undertaken a broad front of activities during the five months from October 2012 to March 2013.  These have included:

• Magubike water supply project.
• Temeke municipality of Dar es Salaam Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project with UNICEF funding.
• Temeke schools orientation training and implementation of a drip kit irrigation project supported by Molly’s Network.
• Advocacy work and experience sharing in a number meetings and national events.

Magubike water supply project

After successful completion of first phase contract, which involved technical assessment of existing water infrastructure, drilling one 70 meter well with a yield of 10m³/hour of potable water), topographical survey to determine design parameters and technical design as well as preparation of bill of quantities (BoQ) and mobilization of communities to select location of water points.

The completion of the first phase paved the way to signing a one year contract from December 2012 to November 2013 to implement Magubike water project. The first six month is for the construction work and then monitoring the project’s post implementation operation and maintenance before handing over to community for sustainable operation and maintenance.

For this contract, SAWA will deliver the following:

• Meetings to encourage community participation
• Three training sessions for management, operations and maintenance
• Construction of 21 water points and 1 cattle trough
• Platform to raise a 5,000 litre tank 3 meters high
• Rehabilitation of a 90,000 liter water tank, 1 pump house and 5 hand water pumps
• Laying approximately 18km of pipe
• Ecosan toilet for pump attendants

In the first quarter of 2013, SAWA has delivered:

•  Community planning meeting
•  Study visit
•  Training classes
•  20 water points out of 21
•  3m high tank platform to carry a 5,000 liters tank
•  Borehole chamber
•  Rehabilitation of pump house roof and plastering

The community planning meeting raised awareness so the community will contribute part of the capital investment.  The community excavated 40% of entire trenching within two months. Generally, trenching pace is impacted by a number of factors including the farming season.

 

The study visit was for two days to Mvumi water project for 30 people including the water management committee members, village government leaders’ representative and influential people. They learned how the Mvumi citizens participated in implementation of their water project, and also heard success stories for sustainable management of their water project. The visit increased Magubike community support for their own project.

The training classes involved three day training for 30 people including the village government, water management committee, and Kilosa district representative. The training covered constitution review and organization structure development. More importantly, the avenue used to determine water tariff (development of budget through comparison of expected income from selling water and anticipated expenditure). The water tariff needs to cover full operation and maintenance cost plus extension of water facilities to meet the desired community service level. It was agreed that one bucket of water (25 liters/6.6 gallons) can be sold for between 30-50 Tanzanian Shillings/US$0.02 to US$0.03) based upon community approval.