DAR ES SALAAM residents are breathing a sigh of relief after water supply in the region returned to normal following ongoing rains in up-country regions which has raised water level at the sources.
The region entered into substantial water rationing following a significant drop in water levels at Upper and Lower Ruvu treatment plants. The government took various swift measures to reduce water rationing in Dar es Salaam and neighbouring regions, including pumping 70 million litres which were produced from wells into the distribution system.
However, the Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, Mr Amos Makala yesterday announced the end of water rationing in the region after he toured the Lower Ruvu Water Treatment Plant in Bagamoyo District in Coast Region where he witnessed an increase in water level.
According to him, currently water production at both Upper and Lower Ruvu Water Treatment Plants has returned to normal, standing at 466 million litres per day, unlike previous weeks where the production dropped to 300 million litres per day.
“The production of water in the plants has returned to its normal state, whereby the Upper Ruvu Water Treatment Plant produces 196 million litres per day while the Lower Ruvu Plant produces 270 million litres per day, making a total of 466 million litres, thus marking the end of water rationing in Dar es Salaam,” the RC said.
He unveiled that the efforts undertaken by the government to address the situation during the rationing period in Dar es Salaam has increased water supply to 590 million litres per day while the actual regional demand is 544 litres per day, thus making an additional of 46 million litres.
He said the efforts undertaken by the government that led to supply of additional litres include Kigamboni project that produces 70 million liters per day, along with the exercise of cleaning and reviving 162 emergency wells out of 197.
In a related development, the RC implored citizens living in areas around water sources to continue protecting water sources and other catchment areas in response to the effects of climate change.
A cross check made by the ‘Daily News’ in various areas of the city established that the residents of Sinza, Mbezi Beach around Tangi Bovu area, Mabibo, Masaki as well as Boko in Kinondoni districts have started to get relief from water rationing.
Speaking to the ‘Daily News’, a Sinza ‘A’ resident, Ms Mwanahamisi Mabuga told this paper that the situation of water supply has almost returned to normal since late last week.
“In the past we used to get water once in two weeks. But from last week the situation is different,” Ms Mabuga acknowledged.
She further added that before last week, access to water service was a challenge as they were forced to spend up to 1000/- to buy 20 litres of salt water for domestic use.
On her part, a resident of Mbezi Beach, Ms Silvia Mushi added that residents in the area have started getting relief since early this week following a reduced water rationing.
For his part, Mr Kitundu Gabriel, a resident of Mabibo External, told the ‘Daily News’ that sometimes they went without water for up to four or five days during the rationing.
“From Monday this week the situation has started getting better because the supply has started picking up,” he said.
Meanwhile, a resident of Boko, Mr Hussein Rashid, told this paper that since the water rationing was announced for the first time following the drought which led to lowering of water level of Ruvu Water Treatment Plants, Boko residents were not getting water until Monday this week.
