water resources, based on the water resources management act nr. 11 of 2009. the water resource management section of the water sector development programme requires that their activities be carried out in line with the principles of integrated water resources management. it has however been noted that bwos suffer from severe institutional weaknesses: they often lack necessary information, clear development plans to guide investments and support monitoring and are largely characterised by weak human capacity. 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 other communities, mismanagement of government provided funds and a desire to implement as many water systems as possible led to the initial construction of projects that never reached completion. 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, insufficient financial resources, poor operations and maintenance procedures, and an inadequate, overly centralized institutional framework. community participation and management (1991–present time) the michenzani apartment building near stone town on zanzibar island, once the pride of east german development cooperation, illustrates the challenges to properly maintain infrastructure and leverage the current infrastructure to pave way for new and green field projects (see open manholes in the foreground) 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." 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 the former capital dar es salaam is the seat of the ministry of water and irrigation and other ministries with responsibilities in the sector. 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 rural water supply and sanitation program (nrwssp) 2006-2025 aims to provide a policy framework for provision of equitable and sustainable water access to 65% of the rural population by 2010, 74% by 2015, and 90% by 2025. the nrwssp is the second iteration of the rural water supply and sanitation project (rwssp) that was piloted in 2002. the program is run by the ministry of water and includes goals for institutional reorganization as well as a focus on data collection and monitoring through a management information system. as of 2008, challenges related to insufficient capital, bureaucratic delay, and lack of local oversight have resulted in minimal progress. the national water sector development programme (wsdp) of 2006-2025 is centred on commercial service provision including private sector participation in urban areas and