Water board fights illegal water connections
Lilongwe Water Board (LWB) has intensified efforts to curb illegal water supply connections among customers to improve service delivery
LWB assistant spokesperson Maurice Nkawihe said in an interview on Tuesday that the board has uncovered about 110 illegal connections in the past seven months.
“A total of K745 million [about K6.7 million each] has been charged on culprits as fines as a result of cases of illegal water supply connections between July 2018 and January 2019,” he said.
Nkawihe said the board registered most of the cases in areas 23, 25, 36 and 49 where construction projects are in progress.
“We are working around the clock to curb the vice and bring all perpetrators to book,” he said.
A Biwi resident, Christopher Matola, said the issue of illegal water connections is real, but is worsened by the culture of silence.
“I think LWB needs to do a lot of sensitisation so that residents should appreciate the negative effects of illegal water connections,” he said.
An Area 25 businessperson Margaret Chikuse commended LWB for coming up with rewards for informants, saying this will encourage more people to report illegal connections.
Water losses through illegal connections per month are estimated at 25 000 cubic meters which is almost one percent of the monthly water production by LWB. n
