DAR ES SALAAM, Dec. 10 -- TANZANIAS journey to ensuring clean and reliable water access reflects a complex narrative of progress, reforms, economic scaling, climate pressure and political prioritisation that has evolved over 64 years of independence.

When Tanzania attained freedom in 1961, access to safe and managed water systems was limited, especially outside major townships.

Urban water networks were rudimentary and often strained, while rural households largely depended on untreated natural sources such as rivers, springs and hand-dug shallow wells.

In many communities, these sources were seasonal, exposed to human and animal contamination and offered neither treatment nor quality safeguards.

The early post-independence government...