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AfWA-FABRI NON-REVENUE WATER PROGRAM AFRICAN WATER ASSOCIATION AND USAID FURTHER ADVANCING THE BLUE REVOLUTION INITIATIVE
OVERVIEW
The difference between the water that the utility produces and the water that it is paid for is called non-revenue water (NRW). Like a business with serious inventory and sales problems, many water utilities are crippled by water losses that they cannot account for or reverse. Some level of loss is normal and expected. A utility that keeps its losses at 25 percent or less is doing well. In sub-Saharan Africa, however, most utilities are losing far more than that. In Togo, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo and Swaziland, the national water companies estimate that around one-third of their water is non-revenue. The utility in Kisumu, a major city in Kenya, loses half of its water, as does the national water company of Ghana. The state water board of Bauchi in northern Nigeria guesses that its losses may reach 75 percent, but it is not certain since it is not sure how much water is in its system or how much it sells. The solutions to these problems do not always require massive investments. Sometimes the solutions, like those being drafted and implemented by the U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID), are about new approaches, new partnerships and new tools. What causes these high levels of loss? Most people think first of broken pipes. We have all seen flooded streets or water pouring out of hydrants. They can amount to large losses, but they are also easy to spot and stop. More insidious are the losses from institutional corruption or user theft, broken meters, and billing inaccuracies. They require more fundamental changes in thinking or adjustments in systems, but improvements can have a far-reaching impact on a utility’s operations. Most utilities in Africa live on the edge of a financial precipice. They cannot cover their regular operating costs. They do not provide full services to their customers, and they cannot repair or expand their networks, making delivery less fair. Nor can they keep up
with rapid urban growth that demands they extend the network to a city’s edges. Without financial resources, utilities cannot ensure the quality of their water supply. Utilities in sub-Saharan Africa lose almost $600 million in revenues yearly, or 3.4 million cubic meters per day, from water losses, a significant portion of what the United Nations estimates is needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in improved access to water and sanitation. In 2012, USAID joined with the African Water Association (AfWA) in an ambitious program to halt the constant creep of higher and higher water loss levels. Through its Further Advancing the Blue Revolution Initiative (FABRI), USAID and AfWA are working with 18 national and city water companies and state water boards in 15 countries in east, central, west and southern Africa.
African Water Association Association Africaine de l’Eau
TASK FORCE
The program began with the creation of the permanent NRW Task Force under AfWA’s umbrella. It draws its members from water utilities in 15 French- and English-speaking countries. They tend to be directors of NRW or operations departments, but some are also directors of their utilities. Members of the Task Force design, guide and monitor the AfWA/USAID program. Their training in the latest thinking about NRW by some of the world’s leading experts took place in two regional workshops in 2013 - Uganda in January and Senegal in February. Task Force members are applying their skills in their own utilities as well as others throughout Africa. As a first step, they conducted water audits in all 18 utilities. A team of two to three Task Force members from different countries worked together for a week to analyze the institutional and network conditions and develop a detailed water balance for the utility. This is often the first time that the utility has a comprehensive understanding of how much water it has and how much it uses. Following the audit, the water utility develops a plan to reduce NRW on its own or with the help of a Task Force member. The plan clearly lays out what can be done to reduce water losses in the short- and long-term through the actions of the utility. While AfWA lacks the funding and mandate to make major network repairs or replacements, it will work with utilities to develop proposals for major outside investment. AfWA will use this model beyond the initial group of 18 utilities in the coming years in the hundreds of water utilities that experience high levels of water loss. While major renovation schemes are a costly fix outside the reach of most utilities, there are many actions that will lead to dramatic improvements. AfWA will work with the utilities to introduce management practices and tools. Strong local technical skills coupled with targeted actions can make more water available to customers and put utilities on a much-improved financial footing.
KEY NRW PROGRAM OUTCOMES
• Measures to reduce NRW in African utilities • AfWA recognition as a technical leader in the sector
for hundreds of water utilities across the continent • Consideration by governments to use NRW
practices and tools, before developing costly new water resources, to increase supplies and improve the lives of their people
AfWA NRW TASK FORCE MEMBERS BENIN - Societe Nationale des Eaux du Benin Jean-Michel Klican BURKINA FASO - Office national de l'eau et de l'assainissement Moumouni Sawadogo CAMEROON - Camerounaise des Eaux Lahcen Iderdar CÔTE D'IVOIRE - Société de Distribution d'Eau de la Côte d'Ivoire Francois Olivier Gosso, TF Chair Alfred Vincent Gnalla GABON - Société d’Eau et Electricité du Gabon Alain Bilong Atsame GHANA - Ghana Urban Water Company LTD Cephas Tetteh Oguah, TF Deputy Chair KENYA - Kisumu Water and Sewerage Co LTD David Otieno Onyango KENYA - Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Co LTD John Mburu Ruhiu SENEGAL - Senegal des Eaux Abdoul Amadou Bal SWAZILAND - Swaziland Water Services Corp Peter Ndumiso Bhembe Malusi Fana Dlamini TOGO - Togolaise des Eaux Erolakaza Etienne Tchagole UGANDA - National Water and Sewerage Corp Noah Kiwanuka Sonko ‘SK’ Mahmood Hakimu Lutaaya
CONTACTS
Heather Skilling Senior Water and Sanitation Advisor
USAID Water Office + 1 202 712 1607
Sylvain Usher Secretary General
African Water Association (AfWA) + 225 48203370
Peter Reiss Chief of Party
Further Advancing the Blue Revolution Initiative (FABRI) + 1 202 549 1387