Sustainable water supply in urban areas remains a challenge because water utilities lose as much as 67 percent of their water to leaks in transmission, poor billing systems, theft and weak metering policies.

In Mbooni, a water company that distributes water to all residents and institutions was running into huge losses mainly caused by Non-Revenue Water (NRW) that affected its operations and service delivery. In October 2016, KIWASH trained senior management and technical staff of the water company on interventions to reduce of non-revenue water losses. 

KIWASH also helped the company develop an action plan that included establishing a unit of staff dedicated to periodic monitoring and reporting non‐revenue water, installing functional production meters, replacing all meters older than eight years, and updating the utilities’ metering policies.

Consistent follow-up visits by KIWASH to monitor progress in implementation of the action plans and provide continuous mentoring have resulted in clear gains in reduced water losses and additional connections. In the case of the Mbooni WSP, the number of functioning water kiosks has increased from two to eight; while water production has increased from 4,500 m3 to 8,000 m3 per month and an additional 2,900 people now have access to water.

“After repairing all leaks within the pipeline and installing new and efficient meters, customers are receiving sufficient water and paying their bills. Our revenue has increased by 100 percent”, said Stephen Mutiso, Managing Director of Mbooni Water Company.

KIWASH is working with 11 water utilities across nine counties to improve governance, operations and financial performance with the ultimate goal of increasing revenues, improving service delivery and expanding WASH services to more communities in Kenya.