KACWASCO Committed to Supply Water to All Households in Kakamega

By Wakhungu Andaje

Kakamega residents will soon be connected to piped water as part of the county governor Fernandez Barasa (Amatsi Khumiliango) ‘water at every door step’ manifesto.

The Kakamega county water and sanitation company (KACWASCO) chairperson board of directors Boaz Bulimu while occasioning the annual stakeholders forum highlighted in its consumer summit report 2024/2025 edition that 78% (432,284) urban and pre-urban population were connected to clean, safe and quality water with 14% of the population within its coverage area being offered sewerage services.

He stated that despite several challenges, they were committed to ensure all the households within the areas of supply within the county are connected to clean water and sanitation services.

With the county population estimated at 1,867,579, according to the 2019 census report, the Kakamega county integrated development plan (CIDP) (2023-2027) is planning to increase the population using improved water sources from 61.1% to 90% that will see improved sanitation services.

The chairman said their main mandate was to ensure that their consumers own the water to avoid vandalism and theft of meters and water pipes.

“We want our customers to own the water as the service is about them, so we want them to be part of our policing to safeguard the water from illegal connections among other shortcomings are curtailed and with them feeling they are part of our team they’ll be able to monitor and report to us such incidences for appropriate actions toi be taken.”

He said the annual customer summit organized by their regulator, water services regulatory authority (WASREB) was for them to give their customers a chance to speak to them on matters water and which areas need to be improved as fare as service delivery is concerned.

“One of our core values in (KACWASCO) is to be customer focused where they target and value their customers they serve within the county. In ensuring that we meet the governors’ manifesto of water to every door step, we need to listen to our customers needs and want and actualize them.” he said.

Bulimu added that it was important to talk to the customers and get feedback that will assist them improve their service delivery across their supply regions including Kakamega, Mumias, Shinyalu, Malava and Lumakanda respectively.

He assured the Malava residents that with the coming of the municipality already they had installed a 50,000 litre water storage tank to serve the locals within and had already embarked on the last mile connectivity to the remaining customers.

“Already the last mile connectivity programme has seen 1,380 new connections further expanding its customer base and enhancing water coverage within the stipulated within the service area,” Said Bulimu.

The chairman also assured that with the ongoing water works being done by the Lake Victoria North water works development agency once completed and handed (KACWASCO) they will continue to supply more water to the customers.

He said despite numerous challenges faced including billing and revenue collection brought about by the high number of consumers with outstanding water bills, frequent pipe destruction due to ongoing road works that leads to service interruptions and increased repair costs, high non-revenue water (NRW) levels which stands at (37%) caused by leakages, bursts, illegal connections and old infrastructure, the company has managed to achieve and record significant progress in service base expansion.

“To address the challenges raised, we have decided to strengthen our billing accuracy, customer engagement, besides intensifying revenue and debt collection and recovery measures and we are encouraging our customers to embrace smart metering technology to improve on billing accuracy, minimize estimated bills and enhance real time consumption monitoring alongside promoting transparency in billing” he observed.

On handling issues related to pipe damage during road construction, the company is enhancing coordination with road contractors to ensure that they do mapping and marking of underground infrastructure and adopt proactive responsive mechanism to minimize service disruptions.

KACWASCO has also focused on protecting and conservation of its water sources and riparian lands and it has partnered with Women in water and nature conservation (WANC) to engage in conservation through protecting and increasing water supply and quality with enhanced resilience to climate change.

It has also taken the initiative to advocate for the formation of policies, knowledge management systems and funding to support water service providers in the conservation of their water catchments.

KACWASCO further has taken up the initiative to expose the impact of climate change on the environment and water resources as well as supporting conservation activities that will improve the socio economic conditions of the local communities through improved land management and economic opportunities.

Community and stakeholders engagement is vital as it has been the identifying factor of the problems with agriculture and cattle grazing has been singled out as the most human activities that are posing a threat to River Yala water source.