The Ministry of Infrastructure and its agencies has expanded access to clean drinking water sources where 338,466 new households were supplied with clean water (17,000 in urban areas and 321,466 in rural areas). The current the water access is at 84.8% countrywide with 708 km of piped water systems constructed; 555km completed in rural areas, and 153 Km in Urban areas. NZOVE II was completed resulting into additional water production of 25,000m3/day adding to the 65,000M3/day capacity and enabling WASAC to produce 90,000M3/day and thereby reducing the water demand gap for the City from 45,000M3 to just 20,000M3/day. The current total water demand in Kigali is 110,000M3/day.

In order to fully address water shortage and cover the remaining short and medium water demand gap in Kigali , the government has signed another contract with Culligan International to rehabilitate the existing Nzove 1 Water Treatment Plant and optimize it to full 40,000M3/day capacity, Upgrade Nzove 2 WTP from 25,000M3/day, Construction of Forwarding towards Mt. Kigali ( 4Km 600mm Ductile Pipe, Construction and installation of 2 pump houses, Construction of 2 reservoirs with 7,000M3 capacity), Construction of a new intake and installation of Chlorine Production Unit.

At the end of the project which will be completed in January 2017, WASAC will have the capacity to produce 120,000M3/Day which covers fully water demand for Kigali and the cost of the project is USD 28.000.000 . This will allow WASAC to shift its focus and investments on resizing and extension of water supply network to enable the company to efficiently distribute water to its customers.

The government has extended water network by over 200 km in general including the extension of water network from NZOVE to Mount Kigali where a booster pump has been constructed at Karama and a 400 cubic meter tank at mount Kigali, and a pipeline has already been laid on this part; phase one of this project which is Mount Kigali connecting NZOVE with Nyamirambo Branch network. This is completed. Phase 2 will be to connect Mount Kigali and Remera network. In this fiscal year 2016/17; 512 km of water network will be constructed in rural areas to serve 328,321 people; the urban water production will be increased from 45,031,510m3 to 48,379,510 m3. For this particular year, the access to clean drinking water is expected to reach 88%.

Addressing non-revenue water challenges

Water rationing and intermittent supply (which stifle efficiency) have been reduced. This calls for more investment in the production and distribution infrastructures (which the central government has ably done in the past), a role that private investors can as well take on.

Reducing the non-revenue-water is, especially, a major concern that WASAC is deliberately tackling by purging the technical and commercial/management gaps.On top of revamping the water supply network, WASAC has set aside about Rwf 4.2 billion to rehabilitate the network set to start soon after concluding the study. The priority areas are; Bugesera, Kikukiro, Samuduha, Rebero, Gikondo and Mageragere.

In the last few months, non revenue water has reduced from 41 per cent to the current 39 per cent, achieved through improvement of the accounting system where billing has gone up to 98 per cent from 76 per cent and revenue collection is now about 92 per cent.

A toll free line is in place, enabling members of the public to report leakages. Use of social media, websites and branch managers’ telephone lines also support constant interaction with consumers to ensure fast feedback.

Besides, WASAC is in the process of installing electromagnetic meters which have sensors for alerting the system of leakages, enabling prompt pipeline repairs. Intensive awareness campaigns to inculcate a culture of good water usage and payment practices throughout the country has too been carried out.

Access to Sanitation services

Countrywide, the access to the improved sanitation is at 83.4% and for this particular year is expected to reach 85%. There are multi-year water and sanitation projects which are on-going and will be completed within this fiscal year (LVWATSAN II projects, Giheke, Nkombo, Coko-Kibeho WSS).

Kigali centralized sewerage system project

The overall objective of the Kigali Centralized sewerage project is to improve collective sanitation services, enhance public health resilience and protecting the City water catchments and rivers. This will enable the provision of well-balanced ecosystems in the environment, and thereby enhance the ability of the catchments to provide eco systems services such clean water and climate change resilience.

This project was designed to cater for full flows at saturation levels in areas covering Kiyovu-Rugenge, Nyarugenge, Gitega and Muhima–the Central Business District’ including residential housing, high, middle and low-income, both formal and informal with the possibility of expansion of the area of the project.All the studies including Engineering Design, Economic Feasibility Study and Environmental and Social Impact Assessment are completed.

Kigali Fecal sludge treatment plant

Apart from Kigali Centralized sewerage project, Kigali Feacal sludge treatment project has been initiated and the study for the Conceptual Design, performance specifications of Septic Tank Sludge Management and treatment plant will be completed end April 2016. The construction of the plant is planned in the fiscal year 2016/17.

Given that the completion of the aforesaid projects requires huge investment, there is a plan to implement them progressively and the Government will continue engaging partners throughout different implementation phases.

Achievement in Sanitation Projects

Detailed engineering designs for phase one of this project which covers Kigali Central, Kiyovu and Muhima is at 80% progress. 

Assessment of existing waste water treatment plants

The activities of the sanitation unit were mainly focused on existing waste water treatment systems in order to prepare the ToRs for consultant recruitment for evaluation of semi-centralized units located in RSSB estates. This is to allow WASAC to upgrade the units which do not run correctly.

The assessment were extended to all semi- centralized and on-site sanitation systems installed in Kigali and in the six secondary cities to have a broad overview of various technologies so that we can establish a comparison in terms of efficiency and cost effectiveness. Some of them don’t function and represent a threat to the effluent receiving environment.

The following picture is a sample of on-site treatment plants which function well: it is located at Inyange Industries Ltd

Sanitation Master Plan of Musanze town

The contract was achieved at about 60%, to be completed during 2015-2016 fiscal in combination with four other secondary cities: Rubavu,Karongi, Rusizi and Nyagatare.