Lushoto, Tanzania

The Lushoto water project in Northern Tanzania is going to receive some CIDA funding through ACTS so we were tasked with making sure everything with the project was in good state before application for the funding was made. Myself, Tyler (the other engineer), and John (the water scientist) made our way to Tanzania for about 1 week prior to the x-mas break. This worked well because I had to travel to Tanzania for climbing anyway. The trip took 4 days total; one day to get to Kampala and a night in Kampala, an overnight bus to Nairobi, a day to Arusha in Tanzania, and a day to Mombo where we were picked up by the engineer, Micheal Herbert. Needless to say, a long trip. Normally it would be faster but all the good buses were booked for Christmas so we were stuck taking crappy transport. Lushoto has their own engineers, one through the Diosese of Development and one through the district water office, so our main tasks were to make sure everything was done relatively well with their planning, check the bill of materials, measure the flow rate of the new source, and test all the water sources. There is currently two sources supplying the community of Lushoto with water. A new source will replace one of the current sources, which is heavily polluted by agriculture, and will also increase the supply of water and allow for long term increases in the population. All the engineering plans were in good order but there was one small discrepency in the bill of materials which we asked them to remedy. The new water source and one of the current sources tested clean, the other was not clean. The flow rate of the new source far exceeded the required water requirement of the design so we were happy with that. Overall a successful trip which got us to Tanzania for the start of the Christmas break and allowed us a couple days to go on saferi before meeting Joel for climbing.




A hazy view of Kampala. We stayed for a night enroute to northern Tanzania via Kenya.




The new water source. It doesnt look ideal but tested clean. The water flows from a protected forest reserve so it is not comprimised by agricultural activites

One of the two current sources (actually the Break Pressure Tank; the source was too far) supplying Lushoto. This one also tested clean because it comes from a forest reserve.






The second of the two current sources. This one did not test clean. This one is heavily comprimised by agriculural activities upstream; there's even a garden on the side of the bank beside the reservior. This is the water that was supplying the guest house we were staying at, explaining why the tap water was flowing brown.

The northern Tanzanian town of Lushoto in the Usambara mountains

John K. Pattison, Adventure Scientist










Waiting in the bus park in Lushoto. The bus was supposed to leave at 7am so we showed up at 6:45. The bus arrived at 9:30 and we left around 10. The efficiency of travel in Africa is wonderful

Looking out over the town of Mombo, which sits at the edge of the savanna just below the Usambara mountains




A very common sight on the side of most African roads






The edge of the Usambara mountains looking from the savanna