Non-revenue water costing water boards K30bn annually
Water boards in the country say they are losing between K30 billion and K35 billion annually through non-revenue water (NRW) currently at an average rate of 36 percent for all the five major water utilities.
Speaking in Lilongwe during the official opening of the first ever NRW workshop in Malawi, Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) acting chief executive officer Silli Mbewe said NRW continues to haunt water utilities, thereby making it hard for them to provide quality services to customers.
The workshop emphasised knowledge sharing, a strategy adopted and being implemented by LWB through the Jica-funded project called Strengthening the Capacity of Non-Revenue Water Reduction for Lilongwe Water Board.
mitigate the challenges
Mbewe said: “As you can see, the rate at which we are losing water which is unaccounted for is very high. Physical aspects, which include leakages and commercial aspects such as illegal connections, are making us lose billions which could have helped in improving service delivery.
“But as LWB and, of course all water utilities in the country, we are doing our best to mitigate the challenges by replacing aged infrastructure, including pipes and also making sure we are dealing with those involved in illegal water connections.”
Ministry of Forestry and Natural Resources director of administration Hillary Namainja said it is sad that the country keeps losing water when a lot of people are still not able to access clean water.
He said: “Reducing NRW is very crucial and I commend the water utilities in the country for stepping up to work towards addressing this challenge.
“Also as a ministry, we are working with all partners to make sure that water catchment areas are protected and we are hoping that with collaborative efforts, they should return to normal.”
Jica Malawi senior representative Naoto Sakonju said the government of Japan continues to support Malawi on sustainable development and one way is by reducing the loss of unaccounted for water.
The World Bank lists NRW as one of the major global water challenges and estimates annual water losses by utilities in developing nations at 16 billion cubic volumes.
