Our climate change work continues to be a cross-cutting theme across our other two programmatic areas: inclusive rural WASH and inclusive urban WASH.
Around 60% of Tanzania’s GDP is associated with climate-sensitive activities. The costs and impact of climate variability are not felt equally – overall, poor communities are affected to a greater extent. Specific impacts of climate change on WASH in Tanzania are yet to be fully understood; however, so far, droughts have not only caused issues with access to clean water, but it also has the potential to increase the cost of domestic water supply. Equally, floods have led to the collapse of water and sanitation supply infrastructure, putting the most vulnerable communities at risk.
At WaterAid Tanzania, we have been working to ensure that our projects are climate resilient, meaning that in the event of extreme weather events, communities still have access to basic WASH. We use a number of technologies in our projects which are environmentally friendly, such as the solar pumping systems for water supply. Similarly, in our project in Arusha, solar power is being used for the water treatment, reverse osmosis system. Additionally our work on liquid and solid waste management provide a defence against flooding, as pit latrines and waste is no longer polluting the environment, and is being disposed of in a hygienic way.
Solar pumping systems
For several years now, we have been using solar technology as a way to provide a clean and sustainable supply of water to communites. As well as being clean energy, solar technology is cheaper and has a longer life cycle than diesel pumping systems.
