MUWSA is a Government Agency offering water and sewerage services to the Moshi Municipality with a population of about 144,000 people. Like most UWSAs in Tanzania, MUWSA is an outcome of implementation of the National Water Policy of 1991, which promulgated a flexible, autonomous and self-financing water supply and sewerage regime.

This Policy proposed an appropriate institutional framework that would ensure establishment of decentralised autonomous entities for the management of water supply and sewerage services in all urban centres. As a result of this policy, and following a number of studies on the financing and management of operations and maintenance of urban water supply and sewerage services in Tanzania, UWSDs were established in 19 regional towns, including Moshi.

These UWSDs were formed in 1994, as semi-autonomous departments under advisory boards namely UWSB’s. In 1998 the UWSDs were transformed into UWSAs as autonomous entities with full operational, managerial and financial powers in accordance with Act No. 8 of 1997 [Ministry of Water: 1997]

History
MUWSA was established in 1994, first as a semi autonomous department, supervised by an Advisory Board. In 1995, prior to the establishment of MUWSA as a commercial oriented entity, there was a study for the three Urban Water and Sewerage Departments of Moshi, Arusha and Tanga. This study highlighted the situation on problems encountered at the beginning of a transformation process from government departments to commercially self-reliant agencies and advised on water management aspects. This study was followed in 1996, by a strategic planning study, which advised creation of “commercial-oriented entities”. Subsequently, in 1998 MUWSA became a fully autonomous authority with a full Board of Directors, replacing an Advisory Board of the UWSA department. MUWSA, with other six authorities namely Arusha, Tanga, Morogoro, Mbeya, Mwanza and Dodomais in category A of a fully autonomous commercial entity with no Government support, except on capital investment.