Utility body blames heavy rains for poor water supply

Officials at RECO-RWASCO, the national water and energy utility, have revealed that the recent setback of water supply in some parts of Kigali were a result of heavy rains which disrupted the systems at Kimisagara plant.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Kigali residents taking advantage of a broken pipe to get water. Shortage has been blamed on heavy rains

Officials at RECO-RWASCO, the national water and energy utility, have revealed that the recent setback of water supply in some parts of Kigali were a result of heavy rains which disrupted the systems at Kimisagara plant.

Speaking to The New Times yesterday, the RECO-RWASCO operations officer, Kigali Zone, Jean Pierre Nkeramihigo, said that the Kimisagara Water Plant which supplies many parts of Kigali suburbs experienced network obstructions in its systems recently, following heavy rains leading to poor supplies.

"We could not supply water at our normal capacity, but after the heavy rain season we have been able to produce enough water to fill the tanks for supply, and we are doing our best to restore better services to our customers,” said Nkeramihigo.

He also revealed that the chronic problem of water in Kigali had been solved after the utility body established a new water plant at Nzove on Nyabarongo River in 2009 which started operating last year, hence increasing supply.

However, he said that due to the high consumption rate, the service was not stable and that some parts like Nyakabanda, and Nyamirambo experiencing cuts in water supply over the weekend as a result of a destroyed pipe at Cyahafi.

Meanwhile, instability in power supply around the city has been attributed to problems at RECO-RWASCO’s main supply station in the city centre whose renovation is currently underway.

Officials at the utility also partly blamed the power cuts within the city to the ongoing construction and renovation of city roads which has led to cutting supply cables in some parts.

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