The Managing Director of National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC), Eng. Silver Mugisha (pictured) has revealed that the Corporation loses about Shs5bn in water thefts monthly, translating to Shs60bn annually in revenue as a result of illegal connections.
He made the revelation today at the NWSC Head Office in Kampala while unveiling a new campaign that will clamp down on water theft, with threats to prosecute customers having illegal connections as well as terminating employment of staff facilitating the illegal connections.
“When it comes to water, you can’t avoid losses, but the water losses we have right now are slightly above what it should be according to our plans. We estimate that in Kampala, if you compare the situation right now compared to what the level of loss should be, we lose about Shs2bn per month if people were not stealing our water, we would be saving Shs2bn,” Mugisha said.
He added: “…we are losing about Shs5bn (monthly) and this is quite some big money, that is why have to make sure this money is recouped for purposes of reinvesting it to serve more Ugandans.”
He noted that the findings came after the Corporation sent out its team to conduct house to house connections, and realized that the vice on illegal connections both on water pipes and sewerage were rampant among the customers.
He also said the clampdown will also deal with owners of water tanks that collect water in the guise of delivering it to Police Fore Brigade Unit but end up selling the water to the customers.
“Some customers also collaborate with our staff to alter meter readings and this of course is having a huge impact on the revenue the Corporation would be getting. Our staff also connive with customers to change the tariff, where the customer is supposed to be on commercial they put them on domestic or even public stand pipe tariff,” Eng Mugisha explained.
He however said other than greed, there no excuse as to why people should steal water, saying water is one of the most affordable commodities on market with the cost ranging between Shs25 to Shs100 depending on the consumption levels.
For a 20 liter jerrycan, NWSC charges Commercial water consumers Shs100, while institutions including schools and hospitals are charged Shs84 and this amount includes service fees and VAT. Domestic water consumers are charged Shs83, while water users at public stand pipes is charged Shs25 per 20 liter jerrycan.
NWSC has hired 200 staff that will audit water connections and revenue losses with each water area to have two investigators, saying the Corporation was forced to take the drastic measure after several warning to staff fell on deaf ears, “Initially we thought our people would fear, people were hiding under disciplinary hearing and sometimes it’s hard to implicate somebody. This isn’t the trend we desire to have in the company we know if somebody loses a job, there are people who get affected in the downstream and the majority of our staff are doing well but we have some rotten apples who are greedy,” said Mugisha.
The Corporation has given the customers this month as amnesty to rectify their connections while staff who carried out the illegal connections have been urged to return to the field and rectify their mistakes before the law takes its course.
It’s a challenge to tackle the problem.