Nawasco Refurbishing Its Water Distribution Network
Water is a daily necessary resource for life, health, economic development, and the ecosystem. Identifying water breakage patterns over time is an effective method for gauging deterioration of water supply.
Nanyuki Water and Sewerage Company (NAWASCO) is refurbishing its water distribution network to serve the customers better.
The infrastructure which is being replaced was inherited from the municipal council of Nanyuki and could have been installed in the 1960s. It's made up of Asbestos-cement (AC) and Galvanized Ion pipes (G.I). Due to age, the infrastructure has deteriorated in terms of quality. This has resulted in water wastage because as they age, they get cracks along the pipeline and the G.I pipes corrode with time due to the deposition of sediments inside the pipes.
NAWASCO in their strategic plan 2019-2023 prioritized replacement of the old AC and G.I pipes. Most of these large pipes of 400mm diameter are expensive. In 2017, we wrote a proposal on the replacement of the AC and G.I pipes and we started at the Asian quarters. This was meant to remove from the network around 2000 connections which we are still planning on how to do it.
head of technical services, Njunge Kamau said. According to Mr. Kamau WSTF granted Nawasco Kshs. 3.1 million on the advent of the COVID-19 last year march as part of mitigation measures. The firm started with the Ichuga area.
Initially we were to replace 7km of pipeline from Polyvinyl Chloride pipes (PVC) to the new High Density Polyethylene pipes (HDPE) but ended up doing 17km because we did not contract the work. The reason for prioritizing the Ichuga area is because of the bursts and leakages experienced in the area.
said, Mr. Kamau
The continued bursts and leakages in the pipes contributed highly to non-revenue water. Non-revenue water is water produced but lost in the system due to leaks and burst in water pipes and also commercial losses because of the inaccuracy of the meters contributing to non-revenue water. The advantage of the new HDPE pipes is that there will be reduced health risks, reduced water losses, increased revenue, increased supply hours, and also the environment.