BUWASA was established in 1998 to acquire and take over as a going concern and carry on as an Agent, the business which earlier was performed by the Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Department (UWSSD) of the Ministry of Water and Livestock Development.

The Authority is an autonomous Water Utility, established under Act No 8 of 1997 and it was legally charged with the delivery of water supply and sanitation services to the residents of Bukoba Municipality and later the Act was replaced by Water and Sanitation Act, 2009 which was also replaced by water and sanitation act number 5 of 2019 which made BUWASA to increase her service areas from Bukoba Municipal to  Kyaka/Bunazi and Mutukula in Missenyi district, Muleba in Muleba district, Kayanga/Omurushaka township in Karagwe district, Karabagaine/Katoma township and Kemondo/Maruku township in Bukoba DC.

 The responsibility for the overall affairs of BUWASA is vested in the Board of Directors, comprised of ten members nominated from various representation groups of the society, namely domestic user representative, women representative, councilor representative, Ministry of Water representative, Regional Administrative Secretary, Municipal Director, Large Consumer representative and Business community representative, Chairman of the Board of Directors and the Secretary.

The directorate performing line functions are the Water Supply and Sanitation management, Customer Service and Human Resources Management and Administration, while the Units performing staff functions are Finance and Account, Internal Audit, Planning Monitoring and Evaluation, Legal service, Procurement Management, ICT & Statistics and Communication & Public Relations as well as Zone offices will be under Zone Manager.