| dc.description.abstract | The provision of adequate and reliable water suppl y in developing countries is becoming
a challenge for most water utilities especially public service providers. Water demand has
been increasing drastically in these countries due to many factors including population
growth as a result of rural to urban mi gration. As a consequence, in many countries
public service utilities have failed to provide consumers with adequate water supply and
sanitation services. Apart from service coverage, there are other problems that affect
public service providers such as high Unaccounted for Water (UfW) and financial
problems due to a combination of low tariff, poor services, poor consumer records and
inefficient billing practices.
This study set out to assess the performance of two urban water supply utilities in
Tanzania. There are serious water supply problems in the districts under study and, at the
same time, not much is known about the performance of water supply utilities since the
implementation of the Tanzanian Government’s new water policy in 2002. This
assessment was based on two main indicators which are the quality of servic e and
unaccounted for water. The quality of the service and UfW have been cited as some of
the major factors which reflect the performance of many water utilities. Poor service
quality as measured by the water quality, billing efficiency and customer care, affects
consumer willingness to pay and consequently the performance of the water supply
utility. Methods used in the study included documentary review, household
questionnaires, key informan t interviews and field observations. The household
questionnaires were used to study customer perceptions on the quality of the service in
terms of availability, reliability, affordability and adequacy of the water, water quality
and customer relations. Ke y informant interviews were used to study the general
performance of the utilities. Field observations were used to gather data to supplement
the data gathered through interviews.
The results show that accessibility and reliability of water supply in Muheza town is
inadequate compared to Korogwe town. O n average customers receive water for 8 hours
per day in Korogwe and 5 hours per day in Muheza. Water supplied by the respective
utilities in the two districts is far below the t otal demand. More than 80% of customer
complaints in both towns were about water quality, water shortage and customer
relations. Poor billing practices and old infrastructure have resulted in high UfW of 42%
in Korogwe and 47% in Muheza . The conclusion, therefore, was that the customers were
not satisfied with quality of services and that the UfW was higher than the generally
accepted value of 25% suggested by the World Bank . It is recommended that the
reduction of UfW through appropriate water demand management strategies should be
given priority and Authority should engage in environmental conservation at main water
sources of water supply. In order to improve the quality of services, the utilities should
improve customer relation and care. | en_ZW |
