High water losses dim Kenya's hope of universal access

High levels of piped water loss are hurting expansion to homes, a new industry report shows, shining the spotlight on a biting cash flow challenge facing utilities as demand increases.

A survey by Water Services Regulatory Board (Wasreb) established that 41 percent of the 428 million cubic metres (units) produced in the year under review did not generate any income.

This means 175.48 million units (175.48 billion litres) of water went to wastage from a business perspective, slightly reduced from 182.7 billion litres or 42 percent of total water production of 435 million units in the 2016-17 financial year.

As a result of 1.61 percent drop in water production in the 12 months through June 2018 compared with a year earlier, earnings by utilities fell Sh881 million or 4.28 percent to Sh19.7 billion from Sh20.6 billion previously.

The findings, based on feedback from 88 utilities (86 public and two private), suggests that more than half of water pumped by firms in 14 counties in the review year was not billed.

This is a rise from 12 counties which experienced more than 50 percent water loss a year earlier.

Water loss in Siaya was at 70 percent of production followed by Homabay, Kwale and Baringo with 67, 66 and 59 percent respectively of the water they pumped not being billed.

High loss of revenue from water was also witnessed in Taita-Taveta at 58 percent, while Kirinyaga, West Pokot, Bomet, Kisii and Nyamira had 57 percent each.

Wasreb, the regulator, says water losses are the biggest threat to commercialisation of water services providers (WSPs).

The utilities are under control of the counties, except Runda Water which is controlled by Runda Residents Association and Kiamumbi Water (which is run by Kiamumbi Multipurpose Co-operative Society)for its residents (both in Nairobi).

“High levels of non-revenue water (NRW) continue to suppress and undermine the right to water. The NRW is attributed to various factors relating to governance, technical, resources, among others,” the watchdog says.

“None of the counties achieved the acceptable benchmark of less than 25 percent. The lowest NRW in this period was achieved in Makueni County at 29 percent and was closely followed by Kiambu at 31 percent.”

An estimated 12.93 million persons were served by the 88 WSPs in 43 counties in the year to June 2018—– excluding Mandera, Tana River, Marsabit and Wajir which did not submit data to the regulator—– which is an additional 80,472 people over the previous year.

This translates to 56.59 percent of the 22.85 million people in the licensed service area, a slight improvement from 55 percent coverage in the year ended June 2018, Wasreb says in the report titled Impact: A Performance Report of Kenya’s Water Services Sector—– 2017/18.

With an average of four persons per home, the report estimates that some 3.23 million out of 5.71 million households which are within the areas where the utilities are licensed to operate were connected to water by June 2018.

The 56.59 percent coverage levels fell short of Wesreb’s threshold of 80 percent.

“Water coverage levels remained largely at unacceptable levels (less than 80 percent) across the counties,” the report states. “The number of new connections increased by only 91,594. This growth in connections was, however, not matched by corresponding increase in consumption volumes implying a lower per capita consumption and hence a decline in quality of service.”

Per capita consumption in the period fell to an average of 34 litres per person per day, the report suggests, down from 37 litres a year earlier.

Wasreb projects the connections should more than double to 200,000 every year to achieve universal access to water in Kenya in the next 11 years.

Kenya needs to allocate Sh100 billion every year to achieve the 100 percent water coverage by 2030, according to the National Water Master Plan 2030 which was launched in March 2014 following a study on the country’s water resources.

Expenditure in the sector has, nonetheless, fallen short of recommendation by more than half, averaging Sh40 billion a year.

“To close this financing gap, the strategic actions proposed are increased budgetary allocations complimented with self-financing, access to blended financing and efficiency of the investments,” Wasreb recommends.

Only eight of the 47 counties had 80 percent of their population within the service areas of licenced water utilities as at June 2018, the report states.

This was after Tharaka-Nithi and Kakamega raised water coverage levels to 88 and 87 percent, respectively, while Laikipia and Lamu both hit 85 percent connection levels.

They joined four others which had met the Wasreb threshold previously, including Nairobi and Mombasa at 100 percent as well as Kitui (98 percent).

“Counties may have invested in many water projects, but unfortunately their impact may not have found their way into this analysis yet considering most of them may have been done outside the regulated utilities framework,” Wasreb says in the report.