By Patrick Etiang
Kampala Water (KW) has registered significant progress over the years. The services have improved, more customers are being served and the infrastructure base has been revamped and expanded. Despite these achievements, the KW region is terribly faced with Non-Revenue Water (“water that is supplied into the distribution system but is not billed”) mainly attributed to; old water networks that are prone to leaks and bursts, illegal water use by some customers and old water meters which under register consumption and continues to eat away at the region’s business growth.
The General Manager-Kampala Water, Eng. Mahmood Lutaaya while meeting KW partners at the corporation’s International Resource Center (IREC), has therefore tasked KW Senior Engineers to partner with branch managers to help curb issues linked to effective monitoring of Non-Revenue Water (NRW) such as leakages, bursts, faulty meters and more in the region.
To aid the KW Senior Engineers and Managers are, all senior staff in the Water Supply and Inventory departments who Eng. Lutaaya tasked with making sure stores do not run out of material to tackle any NRW related issues.
Regarding the response rate to leakages, Masanafu, Seeta, Salaama, Bwaise, and Mukono were commended for having the best response of less than 10 hours whereas Bunga stands at 21hours, city Centre 30 hours whereas Luzira and Nankulabye’s 37 hours is simply heart wrecking.
The Senior Manager-Water Supply, Eng. Moses Bigabwa assured the workshop that his department will provide technical supervisors to every sub-branch within a month.
The Senior Manager-Western Zone, Ms. Hellen Ejang cautioned managers against sitting in their offices and assuming all is well, but rather hit the field and monitor ongoing.
With the lack of access to clean safe water looming all over the globe, the need to manage NRW better and protect precious water resources continues to be increasingly important which is why the KW management we exhaust all avenues to halt NRW.
NWSC remains committed to “Water for All
National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) is a 100% governmental public utility established in 1972 to provide water and sewerage services in urban areas of Uganda.
The Corporation served more than 724,000 water subscribers at the end of 2020 of which 21,600 are pro-poor Public Stand Posts (PSPs), whose tariff is subsidized.
NWSC has also developed capacity to provide External Services (consultancy/advisory) to sister utilities across the region and other parts of the world.
It is headed by Dr. Eng Silver Mugisha who said that their mission is sustainably and equitably provide cost effective, quality water and sewerage services while conserving the environment and enhancing stakeholder trust.
