WASAC vows to fix water woes by July

The ongoing construction of Nzove II water treatment plant in Nyarugenge District and optimisation of production capacity of Nzove I water treatment plant mean that there will finally be adequate water supply in City of Kigali when the next dry season comes around in July 2016, the water utility has said. James Sano, the chief executive of the Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC), made the remarks yesterday during a news briefing during which WASAC officials talked about water supply challenges in the City of Kigali and plans that have been initiated to address them. With the current demand of water in Kigali standing at 110,000 cubic metres per day, WASAC’s current supply capacity of only 65,000 cubic metres per day leaves half of the city’s residents without water or having to survive on water rationing. Alfred Dushimimana ICT Manager at WASAC shows an illustration on the new water electronic billing. However, this is about to change, Sano said, with Nzove II Water Treatment Plant set to add 25,000 cubic metres of water per day to the city water supply capacity by December. He also said the optimisation of production capacity of Nzove I Water Treatment Plant will add 14,000 cubic metres of water per day to the city water supply capacity by July 2016. By July, WASAC’s water supply capacity in the City of Kigali will be standing at 104,000 cubic metres per day, which will be enough for adequate water supply in the city, according to Sano. “With 104,000 cubic metres water supply capacity per day, there will be significant improvement in water distribution. There will be very negligible water rationing since there will be adequate water supply,” Sano said. Nzove 2 Water Treatment Plant under construction. The plant will be commissioned in December 2015 will produce 25,000m per day. (Photos by Doreen Umutesi) The official said in case more water demand arises even with the 104,000 cubic metres supply capacity, WASAC will be able to boost the supply by adding 13,000 cubic metres per day on Nzove II Water Treatment Plant within five months after July 2016. “We did not sit back as we faced water challenges in Kigali; we were busy planning. A sustainable solution to get us out of the problem of water shortage is building water treatment plants,” Sano said. WASAC officials also said they had embarked on rehabilitating water supply networks in the City of Kigali to make water supply efficient for some 87,000 water subscribers. Meanwhile, WASAC has also embarked on doing an inventory of its water subscribers in the City of Kigali to make it electronically accessible in a bid to ease its services to customers. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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WASAC vows to fix water woes by July