Water boards lose billions
Non-revenue water continues to be a major setback in the country’s water boards’ efforts to maximise their revenue with Blantyre Water Board (BWN) alone losing K6 billion annually, Nation on Sunday has established.
BWB chief executive officer Robert Hanjahanja confirmed in an interview on Monday that they lose about K500 million a month due to illegal connections.
Non-revenue water is water the boards produce and is ready for consumption, but is lost due to illegal water connections, bypasses and leakages.
Northern Region Water Board (NRWB) does not paint a rosy picture either as the board loses K4.2 million annually to non revenue water.
NRWB public relation manager Edward Nyirenda confirmed the loss, pegging their non revenue water at 30 percent, down from 37 percent in 2018.
Lilongwe Water Board, Central Region Water Board and Southern Region face similar challenges, according to highly placed sources within the boards, but as we went to press yesterday the boards had not yet responded to our questionnaires to quantify revenue lost due to non-revenue water.
BWB senior public relations officer Evelyn Khonje said in a separate interview that the board was more concerned with the rise in meter theft, meter bypassing, meter tampering, tampering with pipes and fittings to make illegal connections.
Southern Region Police spokesperson Ramsey Mushani said it was regrettable that cases of people tampering with BWB infrastructures were on the increase, saying the police have moved in to deal with such vandals.
Nyirenda, in response to a questionnaire on Friday, said the main contributing factor to nonrevenue water loss is the board’s aged infrastructure which leaks.
He said: “Water supply infrastructure in most areas where NRWB operates have outlived its lifespan and need to be replaced.
“We have been replacing such infrastructure and implementing other measures that have helped us reduce the non-revenue water from 37 to 30 percent [as of now].”
He said NRWB is working tirelessly to meet their target of having a nonrevenue water of less than 25 percent by 2024.
Said Nyirenda: “NRWB cost of production averages K1 600 per cubic metre of water sold and this translates into over K1 billion monthly cost.
“It should be noted that the K1 600 cost per cubic metre is higher than the current average water tariff of K1 400 per cubic metre. The board is effectively supplying water at a subsidy.”
He said while meter bypasses and vandalism of meters and pipes contribute to water loss at NRWB, these contributing factors are insignificant.
Nyirenda said: “We have specific measures for these that include levying penalties and charges on the people caught indulging in these malpractices as well as prosecuting those who do not cooperate.
“As regards vandalism, we have employed a number of measures to deal with the challenge. We are working collaboratively with the police to investigate and prosecute such cases through a standing memorandum of understanding.”
The board, he said, also has a programme of anonymous tips in place where customers report such incidents including illegal connections and the whistleblowers are rewarded depending on the gravity of the incident.
He said NRWB has moved on to recover some of what has been lost from all those found guilty, adding such acts are not only barbaric but also affect the service delivery to their customers.
