factors affecting sustainable living in dar es salaam

Prepared by Karan.S.Chokshi

Sustainable Life of the inhabitants

Dar-es-salaam

Thursday, January 9, 14

ContentsGroups of people living Sustainably.

Pros of Sustainability & Cons that hinder Sustainability in Dar Es Salaam.

Factors affecting the environment-Infrastructure & Sewage Overview -What needs to be improved? -How can we improve it?-Wastage in City -What needs to be done? -How can we implement it?-Water Shortage, Sanitation & Power Rationing -What needs to be done? -How can we implement it?

Evaluation

Conclusion

Reference


Groups of Residents living sustainably

Minority of wealthy residents who reside in the north of Dar Es Salaam bypass most of the issues that other local residents face because most of them are less bothered.

While the other group of residents will donate or participate most in NGOs to improve the lives of the locals who face much difficulty.

The middle class who are composed of minorities and expats are the inhabitants living in central Dar Es Salaam living sustainably with few problems under normal standards of sustainable living.

The lower class or majority of locals living in south and outskirts of Dar Es Salaam are the one facing most difficult situations and not living sustainably.


Pros of sustainability & Cons that hinder sustainability in

Dar Es Salaam !

Flourishing economy.

Healthier inhabitants.

Increased mortality rate.

Ample of fresh air.

Dirty, smelly un-hygienic markets around city centre town and outskirts of town.

Waste is not recycled but rather just dumped away to rot. Currently waste r e c y c l e s y s t e m s h a v e n o t b e e n implemented.

Not well maintained road infrastructure in town that leads to traffic congestion on daily basis.

Power rationing during the summer season 6-12hrs of electricity cuts.

Water shortages residents are required to have a well system of their own.

Most parts of the city lacks the availability of sanitized water.

Pros Cons


Infrastructure and Sewage overview

As seen in the pictures below, during the rainy season the drainage system is not maintained well that leads to flooding and overflowing of dirty water around the market.

When the water is drained in the sewage and when the pipes can’t bear more of rain water hence, dirty rain water flows out from two outlets, therefore sewage water flows out, which then tends to surrounds the market.

This leads to road infrastructure getting dirty, leads to congestion of people who wish to look for dry path to walk on. Most importantly it indirectly affects the market as it becomes an unhygienic condition and second thought for buyers to purchase the groceries from ther. If the consumers do purchase it theres always a probability of falling sick.

During the rainy season it also creates puddles next to the sellers, which causes a probability of fast moving cars to spill the dirty water over the groceries.


What needs to be improved?

Firstly, the plumbing and sewage system in Dar Es Salaam needs to be resolved then only the connected issues that are affected indirectly by the mismanaged system will be reduced during the short-term and in long term will become obsolete.

Secondly the road infrastructure needs to be well built and maintained where it lacks in and this issue is always resolved after a month long wait.


How can we improve it?The locals should enforce the government in getting their surrounding cleaned up. Should send complains to city council. Thats the first initiative an individual should take. Seems thats lacking.

Another approach would be to educate the locals on how to keep the environment clean for the benefit of their health.

There are many private NGOs working. Most of the NGOs are doing what they can, sorting one issue after another but this also requires government intervention which I see not happening.


Wastage in CityWaste recycle is the process of reusing the same materials for creating new products and this process shall reduce the consumption of new raw material, reduce usage of energy, reduce air pollution and other type of pollutions.

To that extent we haven’t been doing this process and from the facts we can see that an environmental group has found out that waste company sends four waste trucks to Pugu area of Dar Es Salaam, Ilala alone produces 1,100 tonnes of waste per day. Kinondoni produces 2236 tonnes of waste.


What needs to be done?

By introducing a waste recycling system in the country which will reduce the amount of waste produced and will be recycled to make another product

Educating locals for not littering anywhere, would assist the government a few percent because then it becomes an expensive process of hiring workers to pick up litter thats dropped around the city or even the outskirts.


How can we implement it?Waste can be separated into plastics and organic compost that can produce additional revenue for waste collectors and fertilizers for urban agriculture. As per the experts 90% of leaf vegetables in Dar Es Salaam region are grown in the city.

NGOs should take the liberty of implementing garbage bins around the local community where they feel that more garbage has been littered.

NGOs can break up into teams and on quarterly basis go around the local areas trying to educate them on where to throw the garbage, if the see litter they should pick it up and not ignore it.

Waste maintaining companies should invest in waste recycling process and think on longterm basis and not on short term because its expensive due to the fuel that is spent per truck to collect garbage.


Power Rationing & Water Shortage Overview

Currently Tanzania is one of the LDC that is affected by power rationing on alternate day/week basis especially during summer season the duration of power rationing is horrible since it ranges from 6-12 hours a day and is cut on alternate days. The down side is that they have increased the unit prices from January 2014. I’m not sure whether this will solve the problem and we still know that power rationing will persist. This not affect the economy’s productivity but also it hinders the efficiency of the work done.

Regarding the water shortage in Dar Es Salaam, most of the town and outskirts inhabitants rely most on ground water because the government doesn't offer water to most parts of the towns. For the past 5 years the inhabitants have relied on ground water. Although cost that we have incurred was typically a greater cost to implement a well system.

Finally water sanitation, this has been a problem to villages and other residents living outside the city area. Clean and purified water is not available, drinking ground (Well water) is not considered to be the safest due to the high concentration of other types minerals eg. Zinc.


What need to be done?The country can always look into an alternate source of energy, currently its looking into natural gas with a company Songas which sells 30% of its electricity to TANESCO. Although most of the resident living in the outskirts have implemented solar system. Although implementing a solar unit is expensive and locals cannot afford such systems. Wind power turbines are another great source since Tanzania is not land locked but a coastal country and has a clear advantage.

Regarding the water shortage they should really put an effort in ensuring that everyone in the city plus outside the city get purified water, because what most residents are facing is that the bill still come every month to their doorstep while they are not paying for the water services.


How can we implement it?The residents should complain to emergency lines if they face power rationing for more than a day but the most important step is eradicate this problem once and for all. Either by forcing the government to look situation in a form of a protest.

As individuals protesting on the street for such major issues the government will alarmed and will look into the issue for a resolution. Just an example, Recently In NewDelhi, India’s local people created a political party named “Aam Admi Party” also known as “A common man’s party” so as to fight for justice as the government was not ready to listen to them even after an ongoing protest against corruption, inequality and other types of problems that hindered sustainable living of an individual. After getting enough votes from the general public, Mr. Arvind Kejrival became the chief minister and started to clear out all the issues that local people have been facing for more than a decade. Other political parities are in great shock. So maybe someone should take an initiative to fight these problems that are currently being faced in Tanzania.


EvaluationFrom the Above what can be evaluated from is that the major issues that the country is facing, is that if we can invest in one major source of energy for water, wast and power which can not only reduce major problems but ensure that productivity is continued in its daily operations because these barriers hinder sustainability of the economy in a critical state. We have experienced it several times but if enforcement is taken place the problem should cease to continue in the longterm.

NGOs have always been playing a critical role in ensuring that sustainability of lives is seen among the people and they are making a big difference.

Also finally as an individual one should care for the environment as the saying goes “charity begins at home”. Whatever an individual can do in order to improve the surroundings then they should do it.


Conclusion

Conclusively, If the above were to be taken into consideration the inhabitants of Dar Es Salaam would live sustainably and mortality rate of the locals will surely increase due to change and improved conditions of their surrounding environment. During the long term we will get to see and experience a healthy growing economy.


References

Mjingo, H. (2013, June 16). We are the Environment. Retrieved Jan 3, 2013, from environmentareus.blogspot.com: http://environmentareus.blogspot.com/2012/06/garbage-‐tipped-‐as-‐dars-‐other-‐gold.html?view=mosaic


http://environmentareus.blogspot.com/2012/06/garbage-tipped-as-dars-other-gold.html?view=mosaic








factors affecting sustainable living in dar es salaam

News & Politics

sewage water

dirty water

inhabitants dares

outskirts of dar es

central dar es salaam

dirty rain water

water shortages residents

sewage system