Water and sanitation in Tanzania : poverty monitoring for the sector using national surveys

In 2001 Tanzania developed a Poverty Monitoring System to co-ordinate the gathering of information on the welfare of poor people, including their access to safe water and sanitation. Sources for this research include national surveys, the census, routine data collected by ministries and local government as well as specific pieces of research and analysis. Long-term trends for drinking water sources were analysed for piped water, well water and surface water. This study reviews water and sanitation indicators used by national surveys in Tanzania. It examines the way in which data on water and sanitation is recorded and collated. It reports on trends derived from existing indicators and from those trends reflects on the usefulness of existing indicators. The report recommends changes to indicators for use with national data.

This analysis relies heavily on data collected by the Household Budget Survey.

While the 2002 population and housing census reports that more than 95 percent of households in Dar es Salaam have toilets, other studies highlight that there is much variability in the quality of toilets. This shows that data quality and consistency across national surveys needs to be improved. In order to improve consistency and comparability, a number of modifications to national surveys data collection are recommended.