Ministry of Water Permanent Secretary Eng. Anthony Sanga (front-left) witnesses signing of an agreement for implementation of a project between MUWASA and City Taps of France (Picture: Water Ministry)
Musoma Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authority (MUWASA) has been lucky to be the first water authority in Tanzania to start implementation of a high tech project worth 1.4bn/- which uses smart meters to curb water leakages.
Apart from water leaks, the project will also enable consumers to know the amount of water consumed after every 30 minutes, instead of waiting for their bills at the end of the month.
Speaking in an interview with Mara Online News at the weekend, Ag MUWASA Managing Director, Engineer Nicas Mugisha said the smart meters will help boost water service to customers 24 hours a day.
“For example, this new technology will give us alerts whenever a leakage occurs or any such technical problem,” said Eng. Mugisha.
Apparently, the technology will be sending satellite images of underground leakages to help engineers fix the problem immediately.
The project comes at a time when MUWASA has managed to control water leakages from 60 to 39 per cent.
“The smart meters gives the customer a report after every half an hour and you can pay just as you do on mobile money services. The customer will be able to decide the amount of water to use and he or she will be given the remaining total balance,” he notes, adding that even if the customer is not at home and there happens to be a problem, like forgetting to turn off the tap, he or she will be notified.
The technology will rid MUWASA of the meter reading problem. The project will be implemented in two years and is expected to cover 1,300 water customers at Mwisenge area, in Musoma Urban Municipality in Mara Region.
On the other hand, the smart meters will increase MUWASA’s revenue collections as there will be less and less water wasted.
“Another advantage will be on the part of workers who will be trained on the new technology,” said Eng. Mugisha.
MUWASA has managed to increase its monthly revenue collections to more than 300m/- from 283m/- during the 2020/2021 financial year.
The success was recorded as a result of extension of water service to more customers. The authority has managed to achieve the ruling party CCM manifesto which aims to reach 95 per cent of those in need of water service by 2025.
Efforts are underway to reach 100 per cent of residents of the municipality.
The Ministry of Water has already signed an agreement with CityTaps Company of France, the implementer of the project.
According to a report published on the ministry’s website, the signing of the agreement was done at the head office in Dodoma in the presence of Permanent Secretary, Eng. Anthony Sanga
The permanent secretary said City Taps wrote a project proposal on the strategy to reduce water loss using smart meters technology that uses satellite waves. This was approved by the ministry and the government of France agreed to fund it to the tune of 1.425bn/-
“Our main goal is to curb water loss in rural and urban areas, so a larger amount of water being produced will reach the consumers. This will enable water authorities to collect more revenues for improvement of operation services,” Eng. Sanga said.
He thanked the government of France for its useful cooperation with Tanzania in the water sector, saying that apart from the Smart Meters project, it has also funded various projects in Dar es Salaam, Kagera and Morogoro regions.
Business Manager for City Taps Aurelie Guibert assured the permanent secretary there will be efficiency during implementation of the project and a solution to curb water loss in Tanzania will be found.
The agreement was signed by MUWASA Acting Managing Director, Eng. Mugisha and CityTaps Business Manager, Aurelie Guibert.
Available information shows that this is a pilot project which will last for two years. It will be carried out in other parts of the country thereafter.
Eng. Sanga said the project is a continuation of ministerial measures to control the challenges facing water loss in rural and urban areas.
(By Mara Online News Reporter)
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