Background
Water Service Providers were created under the provision of
Water Act 2002 to supply the clients with water and a result
the services of water provision have improved. However, One
of the major issues affecting Urban Water and Sanitation
Providers (WSPs) in Kenya is the considerable difference
between the amount of water put into the distribution sys-
tem and the amount of water billed to consumers commonly
referred to as “non-revenue water” (NRW). In general, many
of the Kenyan towns have 40–65 percent non-revenue water.
It seriously affects the financial viability of water utilities
through lost revenues and increased operational costs. A high
NRW level is normally a surrogate for a poorly run water
utility that lacks the governance, the accountability, and the
technical and managerial skills necessary to provide reliable
service to their population.
Revenue collection and cost recovery are as low as 20–30
percent of operation and maintenance (O&M) costs. This
leads to limited funds for routine maintenance, infrastruc-
ture coverage and poor quality of services. The inability to
cover operational costs affects the financial status of WSPs
negatively.
It’s also worth noting that many WSPs lack internal con-
trols for timely, accurate, and transparent billing and collec-
tion practices. Sometimes they do not have updated, accurate,
and complete computerized listings of the customers they are
serving, making accurate billing almost impossible.
Reducing NRW is not just a technical issue but also one
that goes to the heart of the failings of public water utilities
in developing countries. These water utilities often operate
under a weak governance and financial framework. , They
have to provide some form of service to customers on a daily
basis with mostly deteriorated infrastructure. In addition,
they often lack the proper incentives—as well as the special-
ist management and technical expertise—necessary to carry
out an effective NRW program.
In her endeavour to meet these challenges, the Kenya
Water Institute in collaboration with inWEnt – a Germany
government funded, internationally recognized Capacity
Building Institution has developed this Training Manual to
address and implement these challenges of non-revenue water
in urban Water Utilities in Kenya.
In this context, non-revenue water training endeavours at
minimizing operational costs and ensuring that more water
is available to customers to meet their demand. It will lead to
water utilities efficiency, effectiveness and profitability.
Target Group
The training programme aims to train middle level manag-
ers, supervisors and skilled operatives in Water Service Pro-
viders/Companies.
Outcomes
Participants will be able to:
• Explain the components of non-revenue water and assess
the impact of NRW on service delivery
• Explain the components of the water balance and its appli-
cability in water supply management systems
• Understand and identify the different causes of commer-
cial water losses
• Explain the various procedures for accurately assessing the
volume of NRW contributed by commercial water losses
• Appreciate the significance of NRW to water service delivery
• Develop systems for efficient and effective metering and
billing
• Develop a strategy for NRW reduction
Contribution to InWENT Wave Goal
The InWEnt Wave goal is to improve the performance of Water
Service Providers [WSPs] through a set of tailor made capacity
building training programmes in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and
Zambia. All these countries are in the process of implementing
water sector reforms and InWEnt has intervened by funding
human resources capacity building programmes by encourag-
ing regional learning and networking approaches.
It is expected that by training the human resources of
selected WSPs, their management will improve and contribute
to the sustainability of the water sector programmes. In this con-
text, this manual aims at improving the operations and man-
agement of Water Service Providers in Kenya. It is expected to
assist WSPs achieve efficiency and effectiveness by embracing
and applying the principles of reduction non-revenue water in
their day-to-day operations.
Training Duration
Face to face training is expected to last at least four and a half
working days with the remaining time being devoted to field
training exposure where the participants are expected to have
a real life experience on the happenings in a water utility.