By ALICE NACHILEMBE
Managing Water well requires appropriate water governance that covers water resources, water service delivery and today, one of the major challenges faced in many water utitlities is the high percentages of non-revenue water (NRW).
Non-Revenue Water comes in many forms such as vandalism, leaks, meter inaccuracy, unbilled consumption and illegal connections.
One community in Chingola , Lulamba township was losing most of the water pumped by Mulonga Water and Sewerage Company before reaching the customers.
This made the community to have reduced supply hours in which they were receiving the commodity.
In some areas like Stage 1, supply would run out by 12:00 hours each day while worse still in Stage 3, the supply was erratic being for a maximum of two hours per day.
And Lulamba Ward Councillor Temani Banda says he is happy with the way Mulonga Water Company is managing the leaks in the recent times. The water utility has mended most of the water leaks in his ward.
Mr Banda said though NRW doesn’t mean sealing leaks only, he indicated that there was tremendous improvement in water pressure following the fixing of the leaks.
This has in turn increased the hours in which residents receive water such that in even in Stage 3, supply is available as late as 16:00 hours.
With 2019 World Water Day themed ‘Living no one behind’, it is clear Mulonga Water wants to move with every stakeholder and customer dealing with all forms of NRW.
Current NRW at Mulonga stands at 39% translating into whopping K 5 million of revenue per month.
The 39% NRW is the water lost through leaks, meter inaccuracy, unbilled consumption and illegal connections.
The water utility is making frantic effort to bring down the figure to 25% by 2021.
But the target can only be realized if various strategies are implemented which involve both equipment and man power.
Just like any other firm, even for Mulonga Water, it can become very difficult to maintain water sustainability if large volumes of treated water is not accounted for.
No business is sustainable if it loses a significant portion of its marketable product on its delivery path and this is exactly what is happening at Mulonga Water and Sewerage Company.
The complaint is that the utility firm losses revenue through leaks, unbilled for supply of the commodity and meter inaccuracies thereby recording high levels of NRW.
MWSC Director Infrastructure Development Ndilakulampa Hamalambo said NRW is one of the major impediment which has been threatening Mulonga water sustainability for some time now.
Mr Hamalambo said the key strategy to NRW are right technological tools that enable control and timely decision-making to support the loss mitigation efforts, revenue assurance and operational oversight.
He said Mulonga Water in its quest to reduce NRW, which has been one of the hurdles the company is facing, is working on strategies to reduce this which will improve service delivery and improve its revenue.
“We have signed a contract of K7.9 million for the supply, installation and commissioning production of bulk water meters to improve process control by measuring how much water pumped into the distribution network.
“We have also given our hotline numbers to our customers to quickly reach us in case they notice leaks. Once such leaks are worked on, we have a system which is used to track the status of each leak reported.
The company has purchased eight (8) vehicles to be used for the quick response of attending to the leaks.
And a NRW Taskforce has been set up headed by a team leader, Cecilia Mkandawire.
The vehicles purchased which have been distributed across three divisions.
Ms Mkandawire said the first step towards developing an optimal NRW water strategy was having the equipment in place.
“In the initial stages, the target is that at least one plumber fixes at least six leaks in a day .With this approach, a more robust and effective strategy for reducing NRW in townships. The methods and measures developed so far are specific to the company´s water network,” she said.
And Public Relations Manager, Debora Kangende said
“The procurement of the eight vehicles by Mulonga for its three Divisions was a milestone in the company’s effort to reduce NRW. The NRW team would respond to leaks and bursts within stipulated time. And a number of interventions has been put in place to reduce NRW as part of the Zambia Water and Sanitation Project,” she said.
She urged the community that Mulonga Water serves to support the efforts being implemented by the utility by reporting any leaks or vandalism acts to the nearest office.
“Some of the civic leaders have been supportive in reporting the leaks and sensitizing the community in vandalism. Creating awareness on some of our challenges to the civic leaders , the community ,the media and schools is another campaign we have undertaken aggressively,” she said.
