The Nairobi county administration has been compelled to digitize the reading of water meters for city dwellers.
This is after Members of the Nairobi County Assembly (MCAs) on Wednesday unanimously passed a motion requiring the county government to install the digital system.
The digital water meters would emulate the Kenya Power tokens model.
The MCAs noted the system will help seal loopholes that deny the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company Limited (NWSC) more than half of its revenue.
“Digitisation will ensure that if the company loses revenue they will be eager to see why there is no water in an estate. In the process they will end up fighting the cartels to ensure residents have water,” Clay City MCA Samora Mwaura said, adding that digitisation will streamline the activities of the water company.
The system will also ensure Nairobi dwellers only pay for what they consume, the MCA said.
“Clients will have to pay for what they consume. If you do not pay, you do not get water. We know there are some cahoots who have been working with some employees in the water sewerage company to cause artificial water shortage,” Mwaura said.
He added: “The digital water meters is doable because we have private water suppliers who are already doing it, and this will also help solve the problem of billing as well as preventing wastage. It has been done in some counties like Machakos let embrace it and save our people from unnecessary billing and it will also help us fight water cartels.”
According to Auditor-General Nancy Gathungu, Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company Limited (NWSC) loses half of its revenue from the water it supplies to city residents.
In the financial year ended June 2020, Gathungu said NWSC produced 176.04 million cubic meters of water but only 86.35 million cubic meters were paid for by the city residents.
This translates to a loss of about Sh4.75 billion in revenue.
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