Runda Water Experiment

Runda Water Limited (RWL) is a small Public Water Service Provider in Runda Estate located in the northern suburbs of Nairobi City County, Kenya. RWL is regulated by the Ministry of Water, Irrigation & Sanitation (MoWI&S) under the Water Act 2016 through the Water Services Regulatory Board (WASREB), Water Resources Authority (WRA) and Athi Water Works Development Agency (AWWDA), previously Athi Water Services Board (AWSB) and Nairobi City County Government.

The company has approximately 1500 water consumers throughout the community. Some of these dwellings are not easily accessible to the water company staff, without prior notification.

15% of the RWL water network was chosen for a Proof of Concept (POC) to explore a solution that could enable them to run operations with minimal site visits. While site visits were reduced by a similar margin of 15% overall, the PoC yielded additional results for the company

Bulk Meters

The installed meters consist of approximately 213 domestic accounts and twelve (12) bulk meters to monitor water production and supply. The domestic meters show significant results in capturing true individual usage and the bulk meters have increased visibility of water losses within the production and distribution network. The bulk meters are set to report twice in a 24-hour period.

RWL has experienced the following changes in the deployed area:

• Management regularly receives accurate data, without physically visiting the meter.

• Operational costs decreased by 20% in the areas with GoSoft meters.

• 100% improvement in accuracy of meter readings in all areas where the intelligent meters are installed.

• Faster billing process for dwellings with smart meters. A few hours compared to 3 days.

• Improved customer dispute resolution – daily consumption evidence from the smart meter records.

• Security and privacy have improved, especially for security sensitive customers.

From 213 domestic meters installed, ten (10) households show a notable increase in their monthly consumption. RWL is also witnessing more water conservation at the public water points located mainly at the entry barriers.

These changes seem related to the following:

• Replacement of legacy meters.

• Frequent and accurate water usage reports.

• Accurate meter readings, which creates transparency for customers.

• Enhanced visibility of the water distribution network.

• Public awareness of the company’s active water management program.

Bulk Meters

Prior to the installation of GoSoft bulk meters, the company used to get their bulk meter readings manually which at times compromised on the accuracy and was prone to transcription errors. Currently they are able to assess water lost from the abstraction point to the treatment point daily using these intelligent meters.

From the NRW analysis, RWL has been able to make the following conclusion:

• The internal piping infrastructure needs to be upgraded. Most of the pipes that were installed in the 1970’s, with only 4,200 meters having been replaced between 2021 and 2023. A large portion of the water network, about 38,000 meters is still using the old piping network that requires urgent upgrading.

• It is much easier to identify damaged pipes with the bulk meters installed at the treatment plant.