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Incorporating an Environmental Management Plan in Water Utilities Management
Systems to Reduce Water Loss; Case of Non-Revenue Water in Kisumu City, Kenya
1ONYANGO, TA; 2OKEYO-OWUOR, JB; 1ODINDE, DN
*1
Department of Agronomy and Environmental Studies, 2Department of Research and Innovation, Rongo University, Kenya

*Corresponding Author Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT: One of the biggest issues facing water utilities is the water loss experienced during the distribution
process. This study sought to examine water distribution process in Kisumu and formulate an Environmental
Management Plan (EMP) to minimize water loss and mitigate their negative environmental impacts. A qualitative
research approach and a case study research design were employed where 25 participants from Kisumu Water and
Sanitation Company (KIWASCO) were interviewed in a Focus Group Discussion (FGD). Content analysis of the
data collected indicated that water quality and quantity were greatly affected by water loss and the problems
associated with them included water pollution due to introduction of contaminants when leakages or pipe bursts
occur and water scarcity where the water utility was unable to make up for the amount of water lost. Water
abstraction technique was also identified as a vital factor that determines how much water is lost even before it gets
into the distribution system. Land/soil, socioeconomic and political environment were also some of the factors
identified as they form the backbone of a functional EMP. The research concluded that as much as KIWASCO has
a strategic plan to minimize these water losses, the goal entirely focuses on doing so for economic gains and not to
address the associated negative environmental impacts hence the recommendation that there is need to incorporate
an EMP in their management systems that will not only ensure high revenue generation but also guarantee the
conservation of the said water resource to achieve environmental excellence.

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jasem.v26i9.14

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Cite this paper as: ONYANGO, T. A; OKEYO-OWUOR, J. B; ODINDE, D. N. (2022). Incorporating an

Environmental Management Plan in Water Utilities Management Systems to Reduce Water Loss; Case of Non-
Revenue Water in Kisumu City, Kenya. J. Appl. Sci. Environ. Manage. 26 (9) 1553-1556

Dates: Received: 10 July 2022; Revised: 21 September 2022; Accepted: 26September 2022

Keywords: Water loss; Water utilities; Water loss reduction; Environmental Management Plan

Water loss is one of the major challenges facing water leakages in the storage tanks and along distribution
utilities around the world and its management systems and the second being the
therefore requires a comprehensive and integrated commercial/apparent water losses that occur due to
approach that takes into account the new and emerging illegal water consumption or consumer water meter
trends in water resource conservation and irregularities. The American Water Works
management (Vermersch and Rizzo, 2007). Association (AWWA, 2019) emphasize on the
Vermersch and Rizzo (2007) further explain that the importance of annual water audit by water utilities in
complexities experienced in water resource finding the gaps on the distribution networks and
management are often as a result of misunderstandings establishing the tools and mechanisms that can be used
and underestimation of the type and dimension of to formulate appropriate measures on water loss
water loss while also citing the need for water utilities reduction. Umutangampundu (2020) further
to incorporate an EMP in their management. These elaborated on the need for water utilities to come up
water losses are categorized into two by the with a good action plan that contains strategies for
International Water Association; the first being the reducing water losses such as auditing of unbilled
physical/real losses that occur due to pipe bursts or water, alert call, search for and repair of leaks,

*Corresponding Author Email: [email protected]

Incorporating an Environmental Management Plan in Water Utilities….. 1554

changing defective meters together with continuous strategic plan. To fulfill their mandate of efficient
capacity building to reduce water loss levels. Given water provision, KIWASCO has two water treatment
that water utilities’ problem of increased water loss plants, one at Dunga beach that extracts a substantial
coupled with the constant weather variation and amount of its water from Lake Victoria and the other
negative impacts of climate change is making the one at Kajulu water filter which extracts its water from
management of water resource a tedious and river Kibos. The average level of water loss
complicated process (Kanakoudis and Tsitsifli, 2010), experienced at KIWASCO is at 39%, also according
an EMP is therefore required to help in the to KIWASCO’s 2017-2022 strategic Plan which is
identification of interdependent environmental 19% higher than the recommended levels by the Water
components related to water resource management. A Services Regulatory Board (WASREB, 2019).
report by the Commonwealth of Australia in 2014
noted that most strategies formulated by water utilities Data collection: There were two Focus Group
lack an Environmental Management Plan (EMP) Discussion (FGD) conducted. Each session contained
which they defined as a plan that describes how an 14 and 11 participants from Kisumu Water and
action might impact on the natural environment in Sanitation Company. The interviews were based on
which it occurs. They further explained that the EMP the participants’ consent and the discussions lasted no
should also set out clear commitments from the person more than one hour. These FGDs were held in a non-
taking the action on how those impacts will be intrusive environment to make the participants feel
avoided, minimized and managed so that they are comfortable and confident during the survey.
environmentally acceptable. Further description by the
commonwealth of Australia (2014) report that a Data Analysis: The data collected was subjected to
comprehensive EMP should be balanced, objective content analysis using the STATA (17) software
and concise; it should state any limitations that apply, where the text mining tool was used to provide an in-
or should apply and should consist of mitigation depth understanding to help draw conclusions, suggest
measures for each item with each activity to be recommendations and propose the various factors that
undertaken as it also helps in complying with various can be used to construct a functional Environmental
existing environmental regulations. A similar report Management Plan.
by Hunter Water (2018) on management and
sustainability indicated that an EMP’s key benefit is to RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
provide the company/ organization (in this case water The current KIWASCO’s strategic plan (2017- 2022)
utilities) with a means of managing and monitoring recognizes its mandate in ensuring clean and efficient
their environmental performance and it should provision of water to Kisumu residents. It does not
therefore include four major elements which are 1) however provide mechanisms to handle the
commitment and policy, 2) planning, 3) environmental aspect of this critical situation. There
implementation 4) measurement and evaluation. They are various environmental management plans
argue that this allows water utilities to contribute to developed in countries such as the Australian
improved environmental quality, not to mention cost Environmental Management Plan (EMP) (2014) but
control on the money that could have been used to they do not address the environmental aspect of water
mitigate the negative environmental impacts. Hence, loss neither do they propose how such cases may be
the objective of this paper is to evaluate the handled. This proposed EMP aims at reducing the
incorporation of environmental management (EMP) in amount of water loss and the associated negative
water utilities management systems to reduce water impacts. In developing the EMP for NRW in Kisumu,
loss based on the Non-Revenue Water occurrence in six interdependent factors that collectively constituted
Kisumu city, Kenya. a functional EMP were considered as elaborated Table
1.
MATERIALS AND METHOD The first factor the study explored was water quality
Study Area: The study was conducted at Kisumu because it is adversely affected by water loss. The
Water and Sanitation Company (KIWASCO) in quality of water is compromised when there is
Kisumu, City Kenya which is the major company leakages or pipe bursts that provide avenues for
certified and mandated by the Kenyan government to contaminants to get into the distribution system
provide clean and efficient portable water and thereby compromising the quality of water distributed
sanitation services in Kisumu County. The city has a to the consumers. The problems associated with water
population of 344,874 according to the 2019 Kenyan quality include; water pollution due to introduction of
census and KIWASCO on the other hand has contaminants and other toxic substances and when
approximately 44,000 active connections within consumers ingest this water they are exposed to
Kisumu city alone as indicated in their 2017-2022 infections by water borne diseases such as Bilharzia
ONYANGO, T. A; OKEYO-OWUOR, J. B; ODINDE, D. N.
Incorporating an Environmental Management Plan in Water Utilities….. 1555

and Cholera. In the case of KIWASCO, it manages of the affected area is drained to get all the
water quality by ensuring that the water distributed to contaminated water out. However, there is also need
the consumers is fit for consumption. This is done to ensure that once in a while the water that reaches
through frequent analysis of water quality parameters the final consumer is analyzed to ensure it did not get
before the water is distributed. It also ensures that after into contact with any contaminants/ toxic substances
repairing pipe bursts/ leakages, the water in the system during the distribution process.

Table 1: Proposed Environmental Management Plan

S/N Factor Associated problem Proposed Mitigation Measures
1. Water Water pollution Frequent analysis of water
Quality Health implications Non-corrosive distribution material
Efficient pressure management
2. Water Water shortage/scarcity Active leakage control
Quantity Declining water volumes Replacement of outdated equipment
Intermittent water supply Proper planning and Implementation
3. Water Water loss Environmentally sound equipment
Abstraction Pollution of water at source Clear conservation measures
technique Clear guidelines for extracting water
4. Land/ Soil erosion/sedimentation Policies on water loss reduction
Soil Increased water logging Interdepartmental liaison
Water catchment destruction Proper installation of the distribution lines
5. Socio- Unskilled personnel Regular staff training
economic Inadequate funds Government funding/support
Stakeholder engagement Community involvement
6. Political/ Legal requirements Trans-boundary Management
Policies Environmental policies Implementing existing policies
Operating within legal bounds

The water provider also needs to invest in new and protection of the water catchment areas to enhance
infrastructure and replace the old and worn out pipes sustainability. Land and soil management were also
that are corrosive and prone to bursts/ leakages that examined as the fourth factor because they directly
provides leeway for contaminants to get into the interact with the physical water losses. The impact of
distribution system. Controlling the distribution water loss interaction with land and soil will result into
pressure is also an important aspect of reducing soil erosion, increased water logging, increased
contamination of water noting that foreign substances sedimentation and reduced aesthetic value of the urban
can get into the distribution system both when the centers due to the formation of articial wetlands.
pressure is high or low. Another factor considered was
the issue of water quantity because too much water in Therefore, controlling the distribution pressure,
the system can cause pipe bursts leading to water loss implementing policies on water loss reduction,
and also over abstraction can lead to decline in the community participation and proper installation of the
volume of water at the source. distribution network are some of the mitigation
measures that can help reduce the challenges cause by
The challenges that reduced water quantity impose are water loss on both land and soil. The fifth factor was
intermittent water supply and overall water scarcity for socioeconomic environment because this will
utilities that cannot make up for the lost water. There influence the type of mitigation measures as well as
is need for KIWASCO to identify the types of water attitudes and practices of managing water loss. This
loss (prioritizing the most rampant ones) and also factor is often influenced by unskilled personnel,
properly calculate the amount of water lost instead of inadequate funds, inadequate infrastructure and lack of
working with approximations. Other measures include community involvement.
fixing active leakages and application of optimum
pumping pressure to avoid pipe bursts due to high The sixth and last factor identified was the political &
pressure. It is also vital to regularly service old and environmental policies because all Environmental
worn out pipes that are prone to pipe bursts or Management Plans operate within certain set legal
investing in new infrastructure. bounds and are influenced by political situations and
policy governance. In the case of Kenya, such laws are
The third factor was the technique or mechanisms used domiciled in the constitution of Kenya 2010 and are
for water abstraction by KIWASCO as this may cause reflected in the vision 2030 whose aim is to reduce
water loss before it even gets into the distribution water loss to acceptable levels of below 25%. These
system. Aside from that also, use of efficient water legal instruments help keep the water service providers
abstraction instruments ensures efficient use of energy on toes as they work towards achieving set targets
ONYANGO, T. A; OKEYO-OWUOR, J. B; ODINDE, D. N.
Incorporating an Environmental Management Plan in Water Utilities….. 1556

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ONYANGO, T. A; OKEYO-OWUOR, J. B; ODINDE, D. N.