The Kakamega County Water and Sanitation Company is almost done cleaning its customer database to improve services to residents.
The customer identification survey, which started a month ago, is aimed at establishing active and dormant accounts.
Kakamega area manager Idd Osundwa said the team carrying out the survey has discovered illegal connections, bursts and leakages that cause water and revenue loss to the company.
In the progress report as of October 22, 2022, the survey team had visited and collected data from 10,781 out of 17,119 accounts, representing 63 per cent.
“From the 10,781 accounts, at least 8,000 accounts are active with the rest inactive. The survey has located 47 bursts and leakages from the 13 zones in the area. There was a quick response to the identified bursts and leakages by the company," Osundwa said.
The survey has also unearthed 17 illegal connections and whose penalties have been posted to the perpetrator’s accounts in liaison with the enforcement team.
Osundwa said the team has encountered various challenges, especially where customers were unavailable while others displayed hostility towards officials and declined to provide needed information.
“There was also the challenge where some meters were buried underground and were impossible to access and assess," he said.
The issue of water rationing continues to pose a challenge to the survey, especially in locating the dry lines and where bursts and leakages could be.
“The report acknowledged the success of the exercise despite the challenges hindering the company’s efforts to improve services and increase customer satisfaction levels," Osundwa added.
Separately, the water firm has changed its strategy to curb the high rate of non-revenue water, which stands at 44 per cent.
Technical manager Celsus Shilehwa said part of the strategy is the ongoing upgrade of the old water pipeline to deal with constant pipe bursts and leakages.
“As a company, we experience commercial losses as a result of water theft and stuck meters. We have plans to buy smart meters in bulk but we are limited with funds,” he said.
Shilehwa said the company plans to have zonal and production smart meters to enable it to account for every water produced.
The officials said the company will adopt water pressure monitoring to address the challenges of leakages as staff will be able to establish problems at the comfort of their offices.
“We want to digitise our system in GIS to be able to conduct water pipeline patrols so that we enhance accountability of our water. To achieve these plans, we need support from the county government and development partners,” Shilehwa said.
Edited by A.N
