Household Satisfaction with Water Supply Services in Kinondoni Municipal Council, Tanzania

Abstract

Although the government and water authorities have been improving urban water supply services, complaints related to water shortages and irregular distribution exist in the Kinondoni Municipal Council. This study aimed to understand the household satisfaction levels with water supply services in Kinondoni Municipal Council, Tanzania. The study employed the cross-sectional research design and used a mixed-method research approach. The simple random sampling technique was used to get 394 heads of households in Kijitonyama and Tandale wards, while the purposive sampling technique was used to obtain 18 key informants and 14 participants for the focus group discussions. The in-depth interviews focus group discussions, household questionnaire survey, and a review of documents were the methods used to collect data. The quantitative data were analysed through descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, while the qualitative data were analysed through content analysis. In this study, the target population comprised households, officials from water authorities, and officials from wards and streets levels within Kinondoni Municipal Council. The results revealed that customers had high satisfaction with water supply services due to the quick response of service providers to complaints or issues (M = 3.52, σ = 1.24). But they had moderate satisfaction with water supply services, particularly on the quality of water (M = 3.21, SD = 1.38), water pressure for household use (M = 3.32, SD = 1.39), affordability of water bills (M = 2.70, SD = 1.35), communication about supply disruptions (M = 2.88, SD = 1.31), and extent to which water supply services meet overall household needs (M = 2.93, SD = 1.37). On the other hand, customers had low satisfaction with water supply services, especially on the availability of water throughout the year (M = 2.49, SD = 1.34) and the reliability of water supply during dry seasons (M = 2.53, SD = 1.58).   Furthermore, the results from ordinal logistic regression model revealed that the reliability of water supply (B = -.483, p = .014), water quality (B = -.592, p = .003), water service affordability (B = -.457, p = .019), responsiveness of service provider (B = -.485, p = .038), and regular maintenance of infrastructure (B = -.460, p = .020) had a statistically significant negative influence on households’ satisfaction with water supply services. These results suggest that unreliable water supply services, poor quality of water, unaffordable water service, unresponsive service provider, and irregular maintenance of infrastructure were less likely to influence higher customer satisfaction with water supply services compared to reliable water service, good water quality, affordable water service, responsive service provider, and regular maintenance of infrastructure. The study recommends that the government, through water utilities, should continue to improve the reliability of water supply, quality of water, affordability of services, responsiveness of service providers, and regular maintenance of infrastructure. Improvements in these areas are essential for enhancing customer satisfaction and ensuring sustainable and effective water service delivery.