The Measurement Agency (WMA) has installed a modern digital plant for checking water levels at its headquarters in Dodoma.
The Manager of Measurement and Standards Review of WMA Headquarters, Mr. Magesa Biyani said the installation of the plant, which cost about 400 million shillings, will enable the approval and verification of water compasses in a short time and more accurately through many water projects that are being implemented in the country including Dodoma Region and other neighboring regions.
Speaking to WMA journalists on February 3, 2026, Mr. Biyani said that this plant has been brought at the right time to enable businessmen and Water Authorities to consider that all the water lines that they close to customers in their areas have been checked by WMA to ensure that citizens get services according to the value of the money they pay.
He said that the plant has the ability to check more water levels at the same time using a shorter time unlike previous plants which are mechanical (Mechanical Test Bench) with the ability to check 10 water levels at the same time using 20 to 30 minutes.
He said that the plant and two others of the same type located in the Center for Testing Measurements, Misugusugu in the Coast region, together have brought great benefits, including measuring the compasses of more water, more accurately and in a shorter time than before before its presence.
Giving an example, Mr. Biyani said that at the Misugusugu Station where such plants were first installed before Dodoma, between two and three hundred thousand water meters have been measured per year depending on the need due to the increase in strategic projects.
“Therefore, it has brought great benefits and helped the value of money to be visible to customers/citizens, Water Authorities and businessmen and even to the country’s economy”, said Mr. Biyan.
He further said how WMA is involved in the approval and verification of water standards, he explained that this is one of his duties to verify various types of measurements in the country with the aim of protecting the consumer.
He said that the WMA approves and verifies the measurements on behalf of the Government, whereas in the case of water compasses, any private businessman or company before ordering or producing these products must submit his sample to the WMA to verify its structure and after approval he must submit all the products he ordered or produced so that they can be verified for each one to satisfy himself about its accuracy.
Mr. Biyani has explained that the exercise aims to protect both parties, ie the customer and the seller, so that none of them are harmed.
The verified water visions enable the customer to pay the right amount according to his usage, while on the part of the seller, it enables him to get the right payment according to the service he provides.
Answering the writer’s question about WMA’s plans to bring the service to the whole country, Mr. Biyani said the agency’s strategic plan for the next five years from this year 2026 is to install such plants in all the remaining zones in the country, which he has mentioned as the North Zone, the Lake Zone, the West Zone and the South Zone.
However, he has made it clear that the absence of modern equipment in the said Zone does not mean that the work is not being done in those areas, no, it is being done using mechanical equipment as well as the portable ones (Portable Test Kit) which he said the Measurement Officers across the country carry in their hands and take with them to different areas to check water levels.
In another step, Mr. Biyani has given motivation to the measurement stakeholders in the Dodoma region and neighboring regions, especially in the water sector, to use the opportunity of the presence of the modern plant to send water compasses to the WMA to be checked and approved.
Mr. Biyani has warned that it is a legal offense for anyone to install and/or use a water compass that has not been verified by the Measurement Agency while noting that the penalty ranges from a fine of 100,000/- to 20 million for the first offense and 20 million to 50 million shillings for the second offense depending on the type of offense.
He has mentioned the cost of checking the water level according to the law that it is only ten thousand shillings for each one and for design approval it is fifty thousand shillings.
Measurement Law, Chapter Number 340 through its various regulations directs the WMA to check the water gauges at least once every year but the Agency also conducts various surprise inspections to determine if there is fraud and take action.
The Agency has continued to provide education to measurement stakeholders and the general public in various areas, including how to identify a measurement that has been verified, where in the case of water compasses, recognition that the relevant compass has been verified is by seeing a sealed envelope with the WMA seal showing the date, month and time that the device has been verified.
Any compass that does not have the WMA stamp and label means it is not certified.
