Assessment of water service delivery for the urban poor in Tanzania: a case of Buguruni in Dar es Salaam City and Tanga Municipality

The status of water supply service delivery to the urban poor 1s neither well understood nor adequately studied. Worse still, the problem has not been given much attention. This study aimed at assessing water supply services delivery for the urban poor community in Buguruni, Dar es Salaam and Tanga Municipality. Different methodologies including questionnaires. key informant interviews and desktop analysis were used for assessing the service delivery. A sample of I 08 and 150 households in Tanga and Buguruni respectively, together with a sample of 7 selected urban poor (based on Tanga U WSA criteria), provided the study data through questionnaire. Levels of water service delivery in the study areas were different with re respondents from Tanga having access in 24 hours seven days service while those of Buguruni are depending on the availability of the person who sell water at the water kiosk or individual yard taps. The price of water ranged between 20 - 30Ths and I 0 and 30TShs in Buguruni and Tanga respectively for a 10 litres bucket. The urban poor in Tanga are satisfied with the better quality of service from the Tanga UWSA utility. In Buguruni, 100% of the sample population is using water from boreholes and wells. 98% of which complained of the poor quality of water which they linked with the prevalence of health problems in the area. The coping mechanism to the current situation in Buguruni was on the boreholes which have standby generators, rainwater harvesting and water vendors. The study concludes that the urban poor in Buguruni are still suffering from poor water services. It recommends that DAWASCO should learn from Tanga UWSA on how to serve the urban poor considering them as their potential customers.