Will Rwanda attain its goal of providing all citizens with access to clean water by 2024?

That is a question the Water and Sanitation Corporation (Wasac) has been trying to answer since 2016. Wasac is building new treatment plants and increasing the capacity of existing ones.

According to Wasac, of the 945 water lines in the country, 373 have defects, 59 no longer work, and those in good shape are at risk of damage due to ageing.

The country loses 35 per cent of its water through leakages — 10 per cent higher than the global average of 25 per cent.

This compounds the water problem: Figures from Wasac show the current national production and distribution capacity stands at 133,564 cubic metres, while the country needs 279,457 cubic metres every day.

Kigali gets the lion’s share, but remains underserved. The current daily water distribution in the capital stands at 82,241 cubic metres against a demand of 138,142 cubic metres, so Wasac has to ration supply to city suburbs.

According to Wasac, with the completion of the new Nzove treatment plant, water production capacity in Kigali will increase from the current 65,000 cubic metres/day to 145,000 cubic metres/day.

This is the sum of Nzove water treatment plant (105,000 cubic metres) production from Karenge water treatment plant (15,000 cubic metres) and Kimisagara water treatment plant (25,000 cubic metres).

Wasac says it plans to involve the private sector in management of water infrastructure, to remedy any damage of distribution lines due to lack of maintenance.

However, the private sector remains shy to enter into water production and distribution partnership, owing to the “pro-poor tariffs” set by the regulator, with fears that they would not get returns.