Water Utilities Not Blameless

The Citizen (Dar es Salaam)

30 June 2011

The over Sh3 billion that consumers owe water utilities in unpaid bills is a substantial sum, whichever way one looks at it. Many water authorities are badly strapped for cash, and could use this money to improve their services, which are way below the mark.

Water and Irrigation deputy minister Gerson Lwenge rightly commented in Parliament on Wednesday that there was no way water utilities could operate to the public’s expectations without money.

However, this is just one side of the coin. The government would do well to tell water authorities to clean up their acts because it is a fact that many of them are disorganised.

Many water authorities claim that consumers owe them millions, perhaps billions, of shillings, but one is bound to ask whether these figures are genuine because it is now the norm for consumers to be billed for water they never get.

It is not unusual for consumers to continue receiving bills even after supply is cut off for whatever reason.

Improving billing systems should go hand in hand with upgrading distribution networks. Up to 30 per cent of water pumped from various sources goes to waste, thanks to rundown infrastructure.

This loss is unacceptably high, bearing in mind that taps are nothing more than ornaments in many homes that are supposed to have running water.

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