Eldoret Water and Sanitation Company, (Eldowas) has issued a two-month amnesty to its customers with illegal water and sewer connection to regularize the connections.
Eldowas Managing Director Peter Biwott said customers found with unregistered or illegal sewer connections will not be penalized if they regularize the connections within the two-month period.
Speaking while launching the revenue mobilization month initiative on Monday, the MD also announced that customers who were no longer connected to the company’s water line, but continue to discharge their wastewater to Eldowas sewer lines will receive a similar amnesty as their charges will not be backdated, but they will be expected to commence billing as per rates announced by the company.
Such customers, he said will be billed Sh. 300 per single dwelling unit monthly, while commercial, industrial, government institutions, colleges, and schools will be billed 75 per cent of the volume of water consumed as per the metered alternative source of water.
Biwott said the company was owed more than Sh. 650million by its customers that has been outstanding for more than nine months.
“This is a lot of money, money that if paid is enough for us to create 10kms of sewer line, or upgrade all our water dams to their original state, it is enough to supply water to the whole of Langas estate or renew pipelines in the entire Huruma estate,” said the MD.
He further revealed that the company loses Sh. 450 million annually due to non-revenue water bills occasioned by illegal connections.
“Illegal connections contribute to 39 per cent of non-revenue water bills, we also have losses occasioned by over 2000 zero bills where customers, though not illegally connected use water with faulty meters that do not give the exact amount of water consumed hence causing erroneous billing,” he added.
There are customers who have been using the same meter for over 20 years despite the fact that the gestation period for a water meter is 10 years, said Biwott adding that the company was in the process of purchasing 10,000 SMART water meters to replace the old meters.
the new meters, according to the MD, will give an accurate amount of water consumed and enable consumers to pay for their water in advance since they will be assured that what they pay was for the exact amount of water they consumed.
During the one-month revenue mobilization period, Biwott said they strive to engage and sensitize community members on the importance of paying bills on time and as well as sensitizing those using flush toilets not to throw solid waste into sewer lines since this would end up causing blockages.
“Our customers need to be made to understand that they should only use the right type of paper when using flush toilets, and not to flush pampers and other solid waste such as soil and wastewater with a lot of debris into the sewers that will end up causing blockage along the lines,” advised the MD.
The MD said they have a major challenge of sewage lines blocking because those using flush toilets have not understood the damage their actions of flushing down the sewer solid waste causes.
Eldoret town has sewerage coverage of 40 per cent, but the managing director said he was confident that by the end of the year, with the national government constructing 47 kilometers of sewerage line under the last mile connectivity the town will achieve 65 per cent coverage.
“Eldoret town will attain city status within the next 12 months because of these infrastructure facilities being implemented,” he said.
On conservation, Biwott said the company managed to plant 300,000 out of a target of 500,000 tree seedlings this year in the very important water catchment areas,
Eldowas, he said has an initiative to plant at least two million trees targeting major catchment areas in Elgeyo Marakwet and borders between Uasin Gishu and Nandi counties, especially in Chebara, Kipkaren, Kipkenyo, and Kapseret forests to ensure we sustain the quality and quantity of water supply to Eldoret town, said Biwott.
He however said Eldowas cannot do the catchment conservation on its own but will seek the support of partners in government and private agencies.
“We reached out to the youth groups. Learning institutions and other partners whom we supplied with tree seedlings to plant on our behalf, in the future, we intend to scale up in terms of funding so that we mobilize the community to support us in the conservation exercise,” he added
He said the company was spearheading the protection of water towers at a time Kenya is experiencing a drop in water levels and frequent dry cycles.
He added that climate change is a reality and we need to join hands to deal with it to ensure Climate Action is achieved. “It is in the interest of corporate companies, schools, universities, and local communities to support the conservation journey to safeguard the quality and quantity of water into our town.”