Tanzania doubles budget for rural water supply

The government of Tanzania has more than doubled its budget allocation to the Rural Water and Sanitation Agency (RUWASA) in Geita district. RUWASA district manager Sande Batakanwa announced this to a meeting of community-based water services organisations, indicating that the government of Tanzania had allocated 4.7 billion Tanzania shillings (U.S. 2 million) to the implementation of the project.  This decision builds on a project inaugurated earlier which involves the drilling of a total of thirteen deep boreholes, of which eight have already been completed. In 2022, the district had set policy targets to raise the coverage of access to drinking water from 57% to 65% by the end of the year. The government had allocated US $ 1 million The District Manager of RUWASA, had presented the plans to an annual meeting of community-based water services organisations in the district last year, noting that an effective revenue collection system for the services was essential.  Beyond technical interventions such as developing the water source and treating the water to adequate quality for drinking purposes, strengthening of rural community-based water services organisations through capacity building is key to long term service provision. 

The community-based organisations have also been urged to undertake conservation activities for the long-term protection of their water resources by working together with the Tanzania Forest Service to distribute seedlings of native trees, to be planted around water sources.  

The project falls under the Tanzanian government’s current water sector development programme, which has been in place since 2006.