Water firm partners with Murang'a university to produce biogas

Murang’a Water and Sanitation Company (Muwasco) will partner with Murang’a University of Technology to enhance its services.

Top on the agenda of the partnership is the production of biogas from the water firm’s Karii sewerage treatment works that processes all sewer from Murang’a town and its environs.

The firm had already conducted a feasibility study on the project and will now hand over the proposal to the university to establish a detailed design for its implementation.

Muwasco’s managing director Daniel Ng’ang’a said the feasibility study revealed that the biogas would be 50 per cent cheaper than Liquefied Petroleum Gas.

“We will harness the biogas while doing away with hydrogen sulphide that is responsible for the bad smell and sell it.”

After research is concluded in a few months, the firm will seek funds to have the project implemented with Ng’ang’a saying it will help conserve the environment.

The partnership will also see the water firm benefit from the research facilities available at the university that will ensure it provides the best water in the country.

It will also help in reduction of non-revenue water that will in turn increase the company’s revenue.

He said while the company loses about 25 per cent of its water, non-revenue water accounts for about 50 per cent in most parts of the country.

The partnership, he noted, will help reduce the cost of processing water so that it is affordable to consumers.

As part of the partnership, the company will embark on a programme to rehabilitate wetlands by planting plant trees in a bid to store water in its natural state for use in future.

“We will work with the university to provide tree nursery beds in our sewerage treatment works. We are discussing our areas of collaboration and I know they have the capacity to undertake research that can help us as a water firm.

The university’s Dean of School of Pure Applied and Health Sciences Prof Silvia Opiyo gave the assurance that the institution has the capacity to undertake the collaboration as it has enough resources.

The university has about 30 laboratory rooms which are majorly in areas of chemistry, biology, engineering and computing that will help to carry out research.

“We also have a well-equipped library with enough resources and recently installed an equipped laboratory known as analytical and imaging lab which has the equipment needed for analysis and research.”

She noted that the university is doing well despite being an upcoming university as it is currently number 11 in the country in webometrics ranking.