The Ministry of Water is the government ministry principally responsible for water supply, water resources, in Tanzania. The ministry’s offices are located in Dodoma.The Minister of Water is Jumaa Hamidu Aweso

Water service began to be provided since the colonial era in the 1930s. The construction of water projects in villages began in the late 1950s and was provided in all the nine states of the time. Plans for the provision of water services were prepared to meet the needs of the Colonial Government and the service was not provided according to policy instructions. In 1961, the Department of Water and Irrigation was under the Ministry of Agriculture, and its job was to provide rural water services for humans and livestock; maintenance of water resources and flood prevention; implement irrigation projects and conduct hydrological surveys and prepare long-term plans to develop water projects.

In 1963, our country was divided into 17 regions instead of the nine states that existed at the time of Independence and water service began to be provided in those regions. In 1970, the Water Sector was given the status of a Ministry. His work included the development of rural and urban water services. Water services continued to be provided through regional and district Water Departments under the leadership of Regional and District Water Engineers. In 1971, the Government announced an ambitious 20-year water plan (1971-1991) to provide rural citizens with water at a distance not exceeding 400 meters.

Immediately after Independence and for several years later (1961-1997), rural and urban water services were managed by the Offices of Regional Water Engineers under the Ministry responsible for water. The experimental procedure for running urban water services began in 1994 using a special account under the Finance Act of 1961. The experiments were carried out in the cities of Arusha, Moshi and Tanga, and they showed success. of Sanitation and Wastewater and so far there are a total of 20 Authorities at the level of the Capital Cities of the Regions and 109 Authorities at the level of the District Cities and Small Cities as well as 8 National projects (Makonde, Handeni Trunk Main (HTM), Wanging’ombe , Maswa, Mugango Kiabakari, Chalinze and Kahama-Shinyanga, Masasi-Nachingwea).

The city of Dar es Salaam at different times has had various types of management; In 1980, the city of Dar es Salaam was getting water services managed by Dar es Salaam Water Supply Cooperation Sole. The organization was faced with various problems such as, lack of equipment; working materials; money; and wear and tear of machinery and pipes. In 1981, the Government created the National Urban Water Authority (NUWA) with the aim of providing services throughout the country. of Dar es Salaam including the City only. The Regional Water Engineers continued to provide services to the Capital Cities of the Regions and Districts.

In 1997, the NUWA Law was amended, and the water service for the City of Dar es Salaam was placed under the Dar es Salaam Water and Sewage Authority (DAWASA).

Under the DAWASA Act of 2001, DAWASA was given the responsibility to serve the City of Dar es Salaam as well as the towns of Kibaha and Bagamoyo and an area of ​​two kilometers on each side of the main pipeline from Ruvu Juu and Ruvu Chini. In order to improve the water service in the City of Dar es Salaam, the Government approved DAWASA to enter into a 10-year contract with the City Water Services company to run sanitation and sewage services in the City. DAWASA continued to be the owner of the infrastructure. The agreement was terminated in 2005 after the City Water Services Company failed to provide services at the expected levels. The government created the Dar es Salaam Water Corporation (DAWASCO) under the Public Corporations Act of 1992, where it officially started working in June, 2005.