The Kakamega County Water and Sanitation Company has issued a one-month amnesty for residents with illegal water connections.
The company acting Chief Executive Officer Christabel Ashiono said those with illegal connections should report them and they will be regularised.
“We are not going to levy penalties on the illegal connections for those who will come forward but will instead regularise them so they can start receiving bills to pay and use water openly," she said.
The company is struggling to address none revenue water it loses annually through illegal connections and damage to pipes.
The company has reported that 43 per cent of the 8,000 cubic meters of water it supplies daily is unaccounted for.
Kakamega has a daily demand of 13, 000 cubic meters of water daily.
It faces a deficit of 5,000 cubic meters of water to satisfy its needs.
Illegal connections have been cited as one of the major factors contributing to water wastage.
Domestic illegal water connections attract a penalty of Sh10,000 and Sh30,000 for commercial ones.
Ashiono spoke during a breakfast meeting with journalists from the county.
The company plans to reduce non-revenue water from the current 43 per cent to 36 per cent by 2026 according to its five-year strategic plan.
The company envisages increasing its revenue collection from the current 87 per cent to 95 per cent and achieving customer satisfaction from the current 71 per cent to 95 per cent.
She said that the Water Trust fund had supported the company to construct a Decentralised Treatment Facility in Mumias town to address the deficiencies in sewage services.
“The fund is willing to assist the company to put up another DTF at the Nabomgo treatment site,” she said.
Ashiono said the Nabongo sewer ponds ought to have been decommissioned but could not because people are already connected to the pipeline and the alternative treatment that was to be built at Maraba stalled after residents resisted.
She said that land issues have delayed the construction of Nabongo DTF since some private developers have encroached on the sewer land.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
