Climate change has seriously affected supply of water to residents in Moshi Municipality, forcing the management of Moshi Urban Water and Sewerage Authority (MUWSA) to ration the precious liquid.
The current water rationing, which was effected from last month, has sparked off public outcry especially from densely populated areas that have been hard hit by the MUWSA’s move.
A resident from Karanga Ward in Moshi urban, Mr Jerome Msoma, said MUWSA should have issued a notice to inform its clients that water supply would not be as normal as it used to be with specific reasons so that water users could save enough water in containers for domestic use.
He said it was regrettable that MUWSA remained silent while its clients were experiencing shortage of water, stressing that the Authority must communicate with the public.
Mr Msoma also informed this reporter that residents in the area were also affected by lack of sewerage services which, if not tackled, could lead to blockage of the sewers.
He pleaded with MUWSA to avert possible eruption of communicable diseases in the area and beyond.
Rau Madukani area was not spared from the problem of water supply, according to a businesswoman, Ms Yasinta Peter who told this newspaper that she was yet to be informed on the reasons for the prevailing water situation.
A cross-section of Moshi residents expressed similar views and called on MUWSA management to keep them informed.
An official from MUWSA’s Public Relations Office, Miss Mary Mwerinde, said the present shortage of water was due to short supply of water from Nsere Spring located at Maili Sita area in Hai District.
She explained that water supply systems for Moshi Municipality were from two major sources, namely springs and boreholes, with the volume of water production in percentages in brackets, as Shiri Spring (49 per cent), Nsere Spring (46), Mawenzi borehole (3) and KCMC borehole (2).
Miss Mwerinde revealed that when MUWSA was inaugurated ten years ago, water production was 25,500 cubic meters per day while actual daily demand in Moshi urban centre was presently standing at 38,485 cubic metres of water.
The official urged Moshi residents and elsewhere to seriously conserve the environment, on sustainable basis to assure them of constant supply of water which was vital to their lives.