This was announced over the weekend by the Director General of Arusha Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Auwsa) Ms Ruth Koya, while she took the newly-appointed Arusha District Commissioner Mrisho Gambo on a tour of the authority's water supply facilities.

 

She said the expansion will start in September this year and upon completion water supply will increase to 200 million litres a day .

 

Currently, Auwsa generates about 60 million litres of water a day.

 

Meanwhile, Ms Koya said almost half of the water supplied is lost as a result of leakages at the mains.

 

The District Commissioner called on the water authority to be transparent in its operations and added that the government should be informed of the major challenges they face.

 

Other Auwsa officials say another reason the authority does not meet the demands for water in the city is the rise in population which shot up from around 250,000 less than a decade ago to over 750,000 .

 

As a result water consumption rose to 93,000 cubic metres a day from 55,000 cubic metres.

 

Other challenges faced by the authority is uncontrolled borehole drilling.

 

Arusha's main sources of the precious liquid are rivers and springs ,around Mount Meru plus underground water.

Source : allafrica.com