NWSC flags leakages as Water sector shifts to efficiency

KAMPALA,UGANDA; Uganda’s push towards universal water access is exposing a new set of structural challenges, with the national water utility warning that illegal connections and infrastructure vandalism are eroding gains from years of expansion. 

Silver Mugisha, managing director of the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC), has called for closer collaboration between government agencies, political leaders and local communities to address what he described as persistent “bottlenecks” in water service delivery. 

Speaking at NWSC’s bi-annual stakeholder forum in Kampala on April 17, Mugisha said the utility can no longer manage the challenges alone. 

“This pain was expressed to them (stakeholders), and we requested that they collaborate with us so that we can stop that vice,” he said, referring to vandalism of water infrastructure. 

While NWSC is already working with security agencies, he stressed that local leadership structures remain critical to protecting assets. 

“The collaboration of local communities led by their representatives is a good thing,” he added. 

Illegal connections widen pressure on the system 

Mugisha also raised concern over rising cases of illegal water connections, noting that the problem is not confined to low-income households. 

“We also have issues of illegal connections, people who are not necessarily poor. They want to tap into our systems illegally and take illegal water and this is not good,” he said. 

He warned that such practices distort revenue collection and undermine equity in service delivery, particularly for compliant customers who bear the cost of system inefficiencies. 

Beyond illegal usage, Mugisha pointed to technical weaknesses in metering systems, which he said are failing to accurately capture low-flow consumption patterns. 

“Our meters, just for the record, are not able to measure technically low flows which are as a result of flushing at night,” he said. “All that water they use there is not measured by our meter.” 

He added that even in multi-unit buildings, measurement inconsistencies persist. 

“Even when you separate connections on a huge block, all those numerous meters you put there, you don’t record water that is going through accurately,” he said, describing the issue as a major source of non-revenue water. 

NWSC has now launched research aimed at quantifying system losses and informing future policy adjustments. 

“We are doing more research on it; we want proper evidence to see how much we are losing as a result of these systemic errors,” Mugisha said. 

He said findings are expected by June, after which the utility will propose policy reforms to government. 

“There will be a policy proposal which we shall make for our minister to see how that programme can be addressed without cheating anyone, without cheating customers, but also without the organisation losing anything,” he said. 

Mugisha emphasised that consumers should not be blamed for system shortcomings. 

“There’s nothing wrong with what people are doing; it is not their problem. The people are free to flush their toilets… it is now our problem to see how we can measure the flow into those homesteads accurately,” he added. 

He also moved to calm concerns over automated billing alerts, saying SMS notifications do not disconnect water supply. 

“A message will never disconnect your water,” he said, noting that system delays of up to 24 hours can sometimes trigger messages even after payment has been made.