DAWASA: New Lower Ruvu water pumps work perfectly

 
The long awaited pledge of reliable supply of water to millions of residents in Dar es Salaam has come true as pump testing at the major water in-take in Bagamoyo in Coast Region proves successful.

 

The Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Water, Eng Mbogo Futakamba visited Lower Ruvu in-take that had undergone massive expansion including installation of brand new water pumps that he switched on to mark completion of the project ready for production and supply of water to the city before end of this month (March). “This is great achievement and government efforts have paid off. Reliable supply of water through improved infrastructure to the comfort of all consumers conforms the government’s objectives. We have witnessed the perfect functioning of the installed powerful pumps capable of pumping 270 million liters of water a day,” Futakamba explained.

 

Accompanied by high ranking officials from Dar es Salaam water authorities, Futakamba appealed to the general public to take good care of the infrastructure to avoid unnecessary loss of water or shortage in places destined for constant supply.

 

Before visiting the Bagamoyo water in-take, the PS inspected water storage tanks near the University of Dar es Salaam which have also been renovated in preparation ready to receive 270 million litres from the previous 182 million litres a day through the old supply pipes.

 

Eng Chrispin Mwashala , the Resident Engineer – Lower Ruvu Transmission Main informed the delegation about completion of repair work of water storage tanks in the area.

 

The main tank that remained literally empty most of the time was surprisingly found ‘holding’ water more than half its capacity. It has the carrying capacity of 45 million litres of water. From here water flows down the hill on gravity to different places in Dar es Salaam. 

 

Filling of the University tanks was possible as two of the new pumps were started for test the previous day and pushed water to the expected level.

 

The Director of Technical Services of Dawasa, Eng Romanus Mwang’ingo said from the plant water was pushed through the new pipes covering 45km and diverted to the old pipes for delivery to the university tanks that appeared almost full. “In some places in the city consumers have started to notice the difference in supply of water,” Mwang’ingo explained. 

 

Lower Ruvu Water Plant Manager, Eng Emmanuel Makusa informed the Permanent Secretary that the station was ready to produce water to its full capacity only that completion of the final touches along the newly installed supply line is underway.  The old concrete pipes of 1.35m were laid down in 1976 and now aged. The new pipes have a diameter of 1.8m covering the entire distance of 56km from Bagamoyo to Dar es Salaam.

 

”At least eight powerful water pumps have been installed for increased production capacity at this station (Bagamoyo). Four are meant for water suction from the river to clarifiers (Low Lift Section) and four others to push already purified water to Dar es Salaam (High Lift Section),” Makusa explained. 

 

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority (DAWASA) Eng Archard Mutalemwa spoke about the necessary installation of flow meters to monitor water production and the performance of the machines.   

  

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Corporation (DAWASCO), Eng Cyprian Luhemeja pledged control of water leakage to minimize the percentage of non-revenue water. Until last year, nearly 50 percent of water produced was not accountable for. The aim is to bring down to less that 25 per cent in the next few months.

 

“We are well set to control any deliberate loss of water. After improvement of the infrastructure, surveillance will be sustained and participatory approach will help expose acts of sabotage to make sure that all places receive water accordingly,” Luhemeja explained.

 

At the moment, the demand supply of water in Dar es Salaam is more than 450 million litres a day while the delivery is hardly 300 million litres a day. Eng Mutalemwa said the target is to increase the supply to 756 million litres in the next few months to the convenience of consumers in Dar es Salaam, Kibaha, Bagamoyo and villages along the supply lines.

 

Others sources equally under expansion and construction to increase production include Upper Ruvu, Mtoni, drilling of deep wells in Mpera and Kimbiji in addition to community water projects financed by Dawasa.