Water supply and sanitation in Tanzania

Access

Access to water and sanitation remains low in Tanzania. Determining data on access is particularly difficult because different definitions and sources are used, which results in significant discrepancies. In 2015, 56% of the population had access to "improved" water, 77% and 46% of urban and rural areas, respectively.In Tanzania, around 23 million people, in 2015, lacked access to "improved" water. Regarding sanitation around 44 million, in 2015, lacked access to "improved" sanitation. In Tanzania, in 2015, only 16% of the population had access to "improved" sanitation, 31% and 8% in urban and rural areas respectively.

According to a report, household surveys regularly return lower rural water supply coverage than estimates by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (which are collected by district water engineers and urban water and sanitation authorities). For urban areas, survey data are consistently higher because they also include households that are not connected to the formal water supply network and access water from neighbours, protected wells or boreholes.

Water supply. Slightly more than half the population of Tanzania is estimated to have access to an improved water source, with stark differences between urban areas (about 79% in 2010) and rural areas (about 44% in 2010). In rural areas, access is defined as meaning that households have to travel less than one kilometre to a protected drinking water source in the dry season. Trends in access to water supply are difficult to discern due to conflicting and unreliable data. However, it seems that access increased during the 1990s, particularly in rural areas, but stagnated during the 2000s. According to data from the Household Budget Surveys 2000/2001 and 2007 access to an improved water source in mainland Tanzania even decreased from 55% in 2000 to 52% in 2007. Using a narrow definition, in 2007 around 34% of households had access to piped water, as opposed to 40% in 2000. However, using a broader definition of access that also includes standpipes and protected springs, there has been a slight increase in the proportion of households reporting a drinking water source within one kilometre. Estimates from the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) show a different trend. They show a slight decline in access from 55% in 1990 to 53% in 2010. According to these figures, access in rural areas stagnated, while in urban areas it decreased from 94% to 79% over the same period. The JMP estimates rely on extrapolations using, among others, data from the Household Budget Survey 2000/2001 and 2007, the Census of 2002 and the Demographic and Health Surveys of 1999, 2005 and 2010.

Sanitation. National Household Budget Surveys ask respondents about the type of sanitary facility they have. In 2007 93% of Tanzanians responded that they had some form of latrine, but only 3% had a flush toilet. International statistics that monitor the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal for sanitation are based on these numbers, but only after making some important adjustments in an effort to achieve comparability across countries. The Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) defines improved sanitation as excreta disposal systems that are private and that separate human excreta from human contact. Shared latrines or open pit latrines are excluded from this definition. The JMP estimates that only about half the latrines in Tanzania can be considered improved sanitation systems. Based on that definition, access to improved sanitation is much lower than the population with access to any type of latrine. According to the JMP definition, access to improved sanitation was only 10% in 2010, up from 8% in 1990, with an increase in urban areas and a slight decrease in rural areas.

Service quality

Continuity of supply. Of the twenty Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authorities (UWSSAs) that operate in Tanzania, three are able to provide continuous water supply (Arusha, Songea and Tanga). In eleven other cities water is supplied for at least 19 hours. In Babati and Mtwara there is water supply for 12 hours per day. The lowest figures (5 hours per day) come from the cities of Kigoma, Lindi and Singida. In Dar es Salaam water is supplied on average for 9 hours per day.

Water quality. Water quality varies significantly within the country. In the semi-arid regions (including Dodoma, Singida, Tabora, Shinyanga, and Arusha), colour and turbidity levels become problematic during the rainy season. Rivers in the fluoride belt (including Arusha, Kilimanjaro, Singida, and Shinyanga regions of the Rift Valley, and extending to the Pangani and Internal Drainage basins) have naturally high fluoride concentrations. The waters of Lakes Tanganyika and Nyasa have overall good water quality except in the vicinity of urban areas where effluent and storm water cause local contamination, whereas the water quality of Lake Victoria is poor: high turbidity and nutrient levels lead to frequent blooms of algae and infestations of water weeds.

Controls of the quality of drinking water fall under the responsibility of local service providers at the point of water production. They refer to Water Quality Standards established for urban and rural areas in the 1970s.

A water pollution incident occurred at the Barrick Gold North Mara Mine in May 2009, when acidic water (pH 4.8) seeped from a mine rock storage facility into the Tigithe River, which is used for irrigation, bathing and as an unprotected source of drinking water.

Wastewater treatment. Of the twenty major urban water utilities, 11 provide some access to sewer connections. In Moshi the reported connection rate is 45% (although this also includes some industrial connections), in Morogoro the reported rate is 15% and in Dodoma and Iringa it is 13%. In Dar es Salaam the length of the sewer network is estimated at 188 km, although only 4% of households have access to it.

According to an article by a group of researchers from the Waste Stabilisation Ponds and Constructed Wetlands (WSP & CW) Research Group at the University of Dar es Salaam, stabilization ponds have been the most common technology for wastewater treatment in Tanzania. Waste stabilisation ponds have been introduced since the late 1960s, due to the favourable tropical climate and the availability of natural wetlands. At that time, twenty wastewater pond systems were recorded as existing, five of them were used to treat textile, paper mill, tannery and other industrial wastewater. However, many waste stabilisation ponds systems are ineffective because of poor operation and maintenance, design and configuration mistakes and the mixing of municipal and industrial wastes. Starting in 1998, constructed wetlands were introduced in Tanzania. Ten units have been built for residential houses and institutions such as schools, prisons and colleges. They serve about 12,000 people.

In addition, wastewater treatment plants are reported to operate in the municipalities of Morogoro, Dodoma, Iringa, Arusha and Songea and in the cities of Dar es Salaam and Mwanza. Wastewater samples are collected from these wastewater treatment plants. The result of the analysis of 250 samples showed that national standards for effluent prior to discharge were met in 88% of cases.

History and recent developments

The history of water supply and sanitation in Tanzania since independence is characterized by ambitious plans that, to a large extent, failed to achieve their objectives.

Late colonial period

In the 1950s the few settlements with piped water supply charged for water sold at water kiosks or through residential connections. In rural areas systems were operated and maintained by cooperatives, such as the Makonde Water Development Cooperation in the Mtwara Region of Southern Tanzania. One of the promises of the independence movement at that time was to provide water for free, a promise that was kept when Tanganyika gained independence in 1961.

Top-down projects and free rural water supply (1964–1991)

After the union of the former British colonies Tanganyika and Zanzibar to form the United Republic of Tanzania in 1964, then President Julius Nyerere implemented a policy of African socialism called Ujamaa. This included the forced resettlement of dispersed rural smallholders to collective farms. One of the stated objectives of the resettlement was to facilitate the provision of education, health services as well as water supply. In the spirit of the Ujamaa the government launched a 20-year Rural Water Supply Programme (RWSP) in 1971 with the aim of providing access to adequate and safe water supply within a walking distance of 400 meters from each household by the year 1991. Under this programme, water was provided free of charge in rural areas, while moderate tariffs were charged for house connections in urban areas. Implementation was highly centralized: In 1972 the central government abolished local government authorities that were replaced by central government representatives in committees at the district and village level under a policy that was ironically labelled "decentralization". Donors supported the program by funding more than 80% of investments in water supply during the 1970s.

According to a report by WaterAid, “the resulting water projects were unsustainable and left a legacy of distrust among villagers for government programmes”. Villages were selected based on purely technical criteria by the district water department without consultation with communities. Deep boreholes were drilled and equipped with pumps and diesel engines that should have been maintained by the government using central funds. This did not work well and many of the pumps were inoperable. In subsequent years public services collapsed and a serious outbreak of cholera occurred in many urban areas between 1976 and 1980. In response to this failure Town and Municipal Councils were re-established in 1978, but remained without any revenue of their own and depended completely on central government funding. Public service provision remained poor. Although politicians and donors had recognized by that time that the policy of free rural water supply and centralized management had failed, it took them more than two decades from its inception to change that policy. A mid-term review of the RWSP conducted in 1985 showed that only 46% of the rural population had access to water supply services. Among the reasons were the lack of involvement by beneficiaries, the use of inappropriate technologies and an inadequate, overly centralized institutional framework.

Community participation and management (1991–present time)

The socialist policy of Ujamaa was gradually phased out when Nyerere handed power over to Ali Hassan Mwinyi, first as President in 1985 and then as head of the ruling party in 1990. The government initiated political and administrative reforms, as part of which the first National Water Policy was approved in 1991. At the core of the reforms was the Local Government Reform Programme aimed at decentralising power by devolving resources and responsibility for service delivery to district and municipal councils, including transfers of conditional and unconditional block grants to the councils. The National Water Policy emphasized community participation in the selection of projects and in operating and maintaining them through water committees that charged for water. Villagers also had to make a cash contributions towards capital costs and contributed time and labour, local materials and hospitality for visiting government staff. They also undertook hygiene education and serve on health committees.

A pilot for the new policy was initiated by WaterAid in Dodoma Urban District together with the district government. An innovative feature of the project was that the water department worked closely with the community development department and the health department. Both had previously not been involved in water projects. Using the acronyms of the three departments and of WaterAid the integrated team was called WAMMA, giving the project its name. Each of the three departmental teams had to have both men and women among its staff, although this was difficult to implement because of a shortage of female staff. Unlike before, communities were selected based on a needs survey. However, government staff at all levels were poorly paid and had little interesting work to do. Some were consequently demotivated. Like many other externally funded projects, the WAMMA project paid allowances to fieldworkers for work undertaken outside their offices in order to motivate them. However, “payments were made at the official rate, as any higher allowances would undermine the government’s capacity to sustain or replicate work without donor inputs.” Interestingly, WaterAid initially worked directly at the district level without any formal agreement with the regional government until 1995. The programme, which was considered a success by WaterAid and the district government, was subsequently extended from Dodoma Urban District to three other districts in Dodoma Region. 86 projects were built under between 1991 and 1996. The innovative collaborative work between three district departments and the participatory approach attracted visitors from all over Tanzania.

A Water Sector Review conducted in 1993 revealed that the problems in the water sector identified in 1985 persisted at the national level and suggested further reforms. To implement these reforms in urban areas, the Waterworks Act, Cap 272 was introduced in 1993. Its aim was to regulate the supply of water through urban public authorities.

In 1996 new guidelines for the National Water Policy were released, which were inspired by guidelines developed under the WAMMA program. Concerning rural areas they state that villages are responsible for all operation and maintenance costs and that cost sharing is expected for capital costs. Since 1997, 19 Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authorities (UWSSAs) have operated services in larger urban centres under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Water, which contains performance indicators to be reported to the Ministry.

Short-lived privatization in Dar es Salaam (2003–2005)

Following World Bank conditionalities that the government privatize water services in exchange for aid, in August 2003, City Water Services Ltd., a British-German consortium, was awarded a ten-year lease contract to manage the water supply infrastructure of Dar es Salaam. City Water took over responsibility for operating the water system, billing, tariff collection and routine maintenance, while DAWASA remained in charge of rehabilitating and expanding the water network. The contract was terminated two years later for breach of contract and poor performance.

Responsibility for water supply and sanitation

Water and sanitation policies and strategies are defined by Ministries at the national level; economic regulation of services provision is undertaken by a national authority and environmental regulation by a National Council; service provision is the responsibility of various local entities.

Legal framework

The legal framework for water supply and sanitation is based on the Water Supply and Sanitation Act Nr. 12 enacted in May 2009. The Act outlines the responsibilities of government authorities involved in the water sector, establishes Water Supply and Sanitation Authorities as commercial entities and allows for their clustering where this leads to improved commercial viability. It also provides for the registration and operation of Community Owned Water Supply Organisations and regulates the appointment of board members.

Responsibilities of institutions at the national level

Ministries. The Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MoWI) is the agency responsible for overall WSDP policy setting, co-ordination, monitoring, evaluation and regulating community water supplies. The promotion of hygiene and sanitation is in the hands of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare. Decentralisation in the Tanzanian water and sanitation sector has transferred responsibilities for service provision to Local Government Authorities (LGAs). LGAs comprise 132 municipal, district and town councils: they are responsible for the procurement, financing, management and monitoring of service providers in their administrative area. In this, they are advised by the Prime Minister's Office - Regional Administration and Local Government (PMO-RALG). PMO-RALG plays a key co-ordination role in planning and capacity building for local authorities. It is also responsible for allocating resources for service delivery. The Regional Secretariat provides technical support to LGAs and monitors their activity.

Other ministries play an active role in the water and sanitation sector. The Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MoFEA) oversees intra-government funding and is responsible for the overall planning and budgeting, including the water and sanitation sector. The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training is responsible for hygiene education and the provision of sanitation in schools. Sector ministries are responsible for the use of water resources for irrigation, industrial use and energy generation.

Cooperation between Ministries. In 2009, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, MoWI, the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training and PMO-RALG signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the integrated implementation of sanitation and hygiene activities. The aim of the MoU was to facilitate their cooperation and co-ordination in carrying out their responsibilities related to sanitation and hygiene. Co-operation will occur through the National Sanitation and Hygiene Steering and Technical Committees.

Economic regulation. Commercial water service providers are regulated by the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority (EWURA) established in 2001 by the Energy and Water Utilities Regulatory Authority Act, Cap 414. EWURA is responsible for licensing, tariff review and approval, performance monitoring and standards. It started operating in the water sector in 2006.

Environmental regulation. Screening of possible environmental impacts on proposed project sites is carried out by the National Environment Management Council (NEMC) as part of the Environmental and Social Management Framework. NEMC is responsible for setting standards and issuing permits for the discharge of effluents into the environment, including into water resources.

Policies and strategies

The National Water Sector Development Strategy (NWSDS) 2006-2015 sets out a strategy for implementing the National Water Policy NAWAPO of 2002. NAWAPO aims to achieve sustainable development in the sector through an "efficient use of water resources and efforts to increase the availability of water and sanitation services." It is guided by the principles of decentralisation and localisation of management and services.

The National Water Sector Development Programme (WSDP) of 2006-2025 is centred on commercial service provision including private sector participation in urban areas and community ownership and management in rural areas. It also sets out to implement "demand driven approaches". Its first phase was supposed to last until 2012, but was extended. The programme "promotes the integration of water supply and sanitation with hygiene education." The WSDP has four components:

Water and sanitation policies in Tanzania are developed in line with Development Vision 2025 and the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty, better known under its Swahili name MKUKUTA (Mkakati wa Kukuza Uchumi na Kupunguza Umasikini Tanzania). Universal access to safe water is one of the objectives of Vision 2025, to be realised "through the involvement of the private sector and the empowerment of local government." The importance of water supply and adequate sanitation is recognised in the second cluster of MKUKUTA ("Improvement of quality of life and social well being"). Here, one of the primary goals is to achieve "increased access to clean, affordable and safe water, sanitation, decent shelter, and a safe and sustainable environment."

Urban areas

In Dar es Salaam and two districts of Pwani Region the responsibility for water supply and sanitation is split between an asset holding company that is responsible for capital investments (the Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority - DAWASA - with a staff of about 60) and an operating company that runs the water and sewer system on a daily basis and bills the customers (the Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Corporation - DAWASCO - with a staff of about 1,500). DAWASCO operates under a 10-year lease contract with DAWASA that is almost identical to the lease contract that DAWASA had signed with a foreign private company in 2003 as part of a failed privatization attempt. The institutional separation between asset ownership and operation thus is a legacy of the privatization attempt.

In other cities, the operation, maintenance and development of water and sewerage infrastructure is carried out by Urban Water and Sanitation Authorities (UWSSAs). UWSSAs are autonomous legal entities that are meant to operate on the basis of commercial principles. They have been established in 19 major urban cities in accordance with the Waterworks Act No. 8 of 1997. The 19 UWSSAs are divided in three categories from A to C in declining order of cost recovery (see below for more details). As of 2010 they were classified in the following categories:

Category A (13 utilities):

Category B (4 utilities):

Category C:

In districts and small towns there are about one hundred small public service providers, the District Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authorities (DUWSSAs). In 2007, MoWI initiated a process of clustering them with the aim to increase the quality and efficiency of service. However, as of 2012 clustering had made little process because it runs counter to the ongoing overall decentralization process. Donor agencies such as GIZ have thus stopped their support for clustering.

Urban and district water utilities are not responsible for on-site sanitation, which remains in the hands of the relevant local council.

Rural areas

Overview. In rural areas, water supply and sanitation services are provided by Community Owned Water Supply Organisations (COWSOs). They have been established through the local government framework of village councils following the adoption of the Water Sector Development Strategy. Out of 10,639 villages, 8,394 had a Water Committee dealing with issues in the water and sanitation sector as of 2007. The role of COWSOs is to operate and maintain the water supply systems on behalf of the community. They are expected to meet all the costs of operating and maintaining their water supply systems through charges levied on water consumers, and to contribute to the capital cost of their systems. The main source of capital investment are block grants to local government authorities, disbursed by the Regional Secretariat. There are two main types of COWSOs: Water Consumer Associations (Vikundi vya Huduma ya Maji), who are responsible for drinking water supply, and Water User Associations (Vikundi vya Watumiaji Maji), who are responsible for water resources and for solving conflicts among water users. As of 2006, 121 Water User Associations have been established.

Example:Hai district. In the Hai District in the Kilimanjaro Region 200,000 people in 55 villages are served by gravity systems from sources in the rainforest on the slopes of Mount Kilimandjaro. Until the early 1990s the water systems were in bad shape: Local communities did not maintain the infrastructure, water quality was poor and some systems even failed to provide any water. The national water policies of 1991 and 2002, which emphasized local participation and ownership as well as payment for water and metering, turned the situation around. Together with investments financed as part of development cooperation with Germany the new approach achieved substantial improvements. It benefited from a strong local tradition of self-help. Water systems are now operated and maintained by employees of water supply trusts - the local name for a COWSO. Each trust has ten members, half of which have to by women by law, who are elected by the communities. They set tariffs, manage their own budgets and hire managers for each water system. The managers in turn supervise technicians and accountants employed by the water committee. Water is sold at public taps by tap agents or provided to metered house connections. An evaluation in 2002 showed that the incidence of waterborne diseases had declined substantially compared to the early 1990s and that costs were more than fully recovered. As of 2009, water supply remained continuous and water quality good. The water committees remained financially sustainabile with more than 90% of the customers paying their water bills.

Civil society

Civil society actors also participate in the water and sanitation sector. In 2008 they have set up TaWaSaNet, a network that aims at strengthening civil society participation in the water and sanitation and securing that policies are carried out in an equitable way. Among the NGOs active in the Tanzanian water sector (and mentioned in a report by MoWI) are: WaterAid, The Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV);Concern Worldwide, Plan International, WWF, Shahidi wa Maji, Daraja, and MSABI.

Investment planning and decision-making

Water investment planning for rural areas is done at the district level by the respective water departments. In 2009 the NGO WaterAid studied the local government planning process for water investments in four of the country's 99 rural districts, namely in Mpwapwa, Kongwa, Iramba and Nzega. Planning begins with long wish-lists based on demands from the village level. Since real priorities are difficult to identify, one selection criterion used is the balance of money held in the village water fund. This is seen as a sign of community ownership and can be easily explained to councillors and villagers. Other purported criteria are health statistics and data collected from a waterpoint mapping exercise, but they are not given high priority in practice. Selection is done in such a way that water projects are equally divided between the constituencies of the district’s Members of Parliament. Furthermore, councilors steer projects to villages in their wards, with more dynamic councillors exerting greater influence. Another de facto criterion is the previous track record in caring for infrastructure: In some areas handpumps have been stolen, making it hard to justify new investments. Communities close to town, located on main roads or with existing social services have an advantage in the decision-making process, since officials visit them more often and the cost of providing infrastructure is lower. The WaterAid report suggests that if there was better availability of data on rural water supply infrastructure this could help the representatives of underserved communities to lobby on behalf of their constituents.

Public opinion

The Afrobarometer Survey 2008 collected information about Tanzanians' opinions about the water sector. The disparity in access to safe and clean water between rural and urban areas is illustrated by the responses: 51% of urban residents were satisfied with government efforts to deliver water and sanitation services, compared to 39% in rural areas. Accordingly, the water sector is considered as a higher priority for government action by rural Tanzanians. 44% of respondents in rural areas cited water supply as one of the three most pressing issues that the government should address (for 16% it is the single most important problem). In urban areas water supply came third behind economic and health concerns in 25% of responses. Issues of corruption in the water sector were also examined by the Survey: 4% of respondents admitted that they had to pay a bribe, give a gift, or do a favor to government officials in order to get water or sanitation services in the past year.

Economic efficiency

Some common indicators of the economic efficiency of water and sewerage utilities are billing efficiency, the level of non-revenue water and labour productivity. On the basis of these indicators the economic efficiency of urban service provision in the water sector in Tanzania is low.

Billing efficiency. Government data indicated that urban water utilities have relatively high levels of billing efficiency (never below 70%). However, a Public Expenditure Review in 2009 reported that 15% of the revenues of the 20 largest utilities regulated by EWURA is not collected.

Non-revenue water. The average level of non-revenue water among the 20 regional water utilities was 45% in fiscal year 2006-2007. Data reported by the Ministry of Water and Irrigation in 2009 show that non-revenue water in urban areas varies between 55% in Dar es Salaam and 25% in Tanga. It is estimated that non-revenue water is higher in small and district towns.

Labour productivity. On average, there were 10 staff members per 1000 water connections in the large water utilities as of 2007. The lowest number in Tanzanian UWSSAs is 6 employees per 1000 connections, obtained in Tanga, Mbeya and Arusha. This is close to the average for Sub-Saharan Africa which is 5 employees.

Tariffs and cost recovery

The national water policy NAWAPO identifies utilities as commercial entities that provide an economic and social good. It thus promotes operational and maintenance (O&M) cost recovery as basis for sustainable services. Rural Water and Sanitation Authorities are expected to meet full O&M costs and 5% of capital costs. Urban Water and Sanitation Authorities are divided in three categories according to their performance in cost recovery:

This system was designed to act as an incentive for utilities to improve their performance. According to MoWI, 14 out of the 20 regional UWSSAs fall into category A, 4 are classified as B while utilities in Babati and Lindi are in category C. The results of a study by Tobias A. Swai of the University of Dar es Salaam, however, indicated that Category A UWSSAs are the least efficient although they are self-sustaining. EWURA data also point out that two out of the twenty regional utilities have an operating cost coverage ratio significantly higher than one, which means that they can sustain the current service level. Seven other utilities only just manage to keep their current operations running.

Tariff levels are set at the local level, but need to be approved by the national-level regulatory agency EWURA. In urban areas, UWSSAs determine tariffs according to their funding requirements and the category in which they operate. In water supply schemes run by Local Government Authorities, tariff levels are determined by the respective District Council, but without specific targets of cost coverage. Tariffs are generally low and have not been revised in the last years. In Dar es Salaam the average water tariff in 2008 was TZ599 or US$0.46 per m³. Lindi had the highest average water tariff: TZS833 or US$0.64 per m³. The average urban water tariff was TZS437,4 equivalent to US$0.34 per m³.

UWSSAs carry out water metering. In Arusha, Dodoma, Moshi, Mwanza and Tanga 100% of household connections are reported as metered. The figures are above 50% in eleven other cities, with Lindi performing worst with 26% of metered connections. As of 2008 there were in total over 331,000 metered household connections in the territory served by regional utilities (the figure almost doubled compared to 2007 - about 169,000 metered connections). The maintenance of water meters and the associated costs have been identified by MoWI as one of the pressing problems for urban water suppliers.

Concerning affordability, an analysis of the 2007 household budget survey shows that the wealthiest quintile of Tanzanians spends more than 4000 Tanzanian Shilling (US$3.10) per month for water, corresponding to about 1 percent of their income. Those in the poorest quintile spend only about 1000 Tanzanian Shilling (US$0.77) per month for water, but this represents 4.5 percent of their income. One of the reasons why the poor spend less in absolute terms on water is that they fetch water for free from wells and streams. The data are not differentiated between rural and urban areas, although it is likely that the urban poor who have no access to free water sources pay much more for water than those in rural areas.

Investment and financing

Investment. According to the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the total budget for the water and sanitation sector in fiscal year 2008-2009 was 286.5 billion Tanzanian Shilling, equivalent to US$220 million. Of these, US$175 million were actually spent. The budget approved for fiscal year 2009-2010 is TZS309.6 billion, or US$238 million. 40.1% has been allocated to rural water and sanitation and 43.9% to urban water and sewerage. Water resources management and institutional development and capacity building have been allocated 8.5% and 7.4% of the budget respectively. The UN Water Country Brief for Tanzania, however, shows an estimate for average annual drinking water and sanitation expenditures in the period 2002-2011. According to that report, government investment expenditures were only US$30 million per year plus official development aid disbursements of US$82 million per year, about seven times less than the government figures for fiscal year 2008-09. Expenditures fluctuated substantially from year to year, with a peak in 2008-09.

The Public Expenditure Report of the Water Sector provides a detailed analysis of the patterns of budget spending. It appears that in the water sector large part of the budget is made up of development expenditures and only 15% are recurrent expenditures (compared to the 55% share of development expenditures in the total government budget). Moreover, as a result of the decentralization policy of the government, the budget allocated to local government authorities and regions has increased rapidly. In fiscal year 2008-2009 LGAs had a share in the total water sector budget of about 25%, while the figure was 20% for regions. Conversely, an increasing part of central government budget is devoted to feasibility studies: this reflects the co-ordinating and policy setting role to which MoWI is shifting.

Financing. Tanzania is one of the largest recipient countries of foreign aid in Sub-Saharan Africa. This includes assistance in the form of grants, concessional loans and debt relief. Aid management in Tanzania is guided by the Joint Assistance Strategy (JAST) approved in 2006 and aimed at implementing the principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. JAST advocates the integration of all development funds into the government budget, fosters national ownership and promotes a "division of labour" between donors. The Public Expenditure Report however suggests that not all spending in the water sector is included in the government budget. A comparison between OECD and Ministry of Finance data on bilateral aid shows that there is a gap between the two sources. This indicates that there has been off-budget financing of about 26% of total bilateral aid in the past five years. According to data published by MoWI, of the funds budgeted for the water and sanitation sector for fiscal year 2009-2010, about 88% will be provided from foreign transfers.