NWC/MIYA Non-Revenue Water Reduction Programme Yielding Positive Outcomes

The National Water Commission (NWC) is recording positive outcomes under the NWC/Miya Non-Revenue Water (NRW) Reduction Co-Management Programme.

The engagement aims to strengthen service delivery to NWC customers within the project areas and bolster the national utility company’s operational efficiency.

The venture also targets water distribution improvement at acceptable pressures to meet the Office of Utilities Regulation’s (OUR) standards and customer satisfaction. This, in addition to promoting energy and water conservation practices.

In 2015, the NWC partnered with Miya, a global water efficiency firm, to implement the Programme in Kingston and St. Andrew (KSA) at a cost of US$42.5 million.

MIYA Jamaica Country Manager Alvaro Ramalho, tells JIS News that Kingston, which was losing over 120,000 cubic metres of water daily, has seen that fall below 70,000, under the programme.

“Percentage-wise, the city was losing more than 60 per cent of the water; and today, [that] is [down to] around 40 per cent of the water is lost,” he further informs.

Following the initiative’s success in the KSA region, the programme was recently launched in Portmore, St. Catherine, for implementation over five years at a cost of US$13 million.

The Portmore leg is expected to result in the expansion of the NWC’s capacity for sustainable NRW reduction; lower maintenance and operational costs to correct leaks; increase supply efficiency and reliability to more than 200,000 persons, comprising residential and commercial customers and institutions; enhance operational improvement and energy savings; and boost the provision of a high-quality and consistent water supply.

Mr. Ramalho, who notes that NWC and Miya have been working in Portmore since 2021, says the project’s implementation in the municipality is slated for completion by 2026.

“The target here is to reduce [water] losses from 26,000 to 10,000 cubic metres per day, or roughly from 60 per cent to 30 per cent. We continue to work very well together… where NWC with its teams on the ground… with the equipment, manage to find… and repair the leaks with our support and with our guidance,” he states.

Mr. Ramalho says the overarching goal is to optimise the operations of the NWC.

“So, this is a holistic approach that we are working [on] together, which also includes metering activities, where we change the… defective meters of the customers and we put in brand new meters that [have] much better accuracy. This allows the NWC to capture the real volume of water that is consumed by each customer,” he explains.

Mr. Ramalho indicates that, currently, it is challenging to undertake consistent stable water production in Portmore, noting that the area is quite flat and has a lot of pressure issues.

So far, 12 pressure zones (PZs) and 30 district metered areas (DMAs) have been established, while the programme has been employing advanced digital technologies by using a hydraulic model software to control and manage water pressure.

“We can allocate the water better. The system [previously needed] almost 42,000 cubic metres of water per day; and, today, the same system works only with 32,000. We reduced 10,000 cubic metres of water per day off the needs of the [area] to satisfy the same population and to have the same revenue,” Mr. Ramalho outlines.

He says it is hoped that by year end, there will be stable distribution with good pressure to all customers in Portmore.

Mr. Ramalho says leak detection activities have been improving. He points out that the programme has managed to reduce the leakage backlog from 3,000 to 150.

Additionally, of the 20,000 meters to be installed, 4,000 have, so far, been connected. It is expected that by the end of 2023, all meters will be installed.

Meanwhile, a public education campaign highlighting the programme’s importance to residents, is ongoing.

“Thirteen schools have been part of our programme. We already visited three out of the 13, and we will continue this year… visiting the schools and delivering the message of the value of water and educating the students about how to save water, and to explain what the result of the project is,” Mr. Ramalho states.

Communities, such as Newlands, Christian Pen, Naggo Head, Gregory Park, Christian Gardens and Dyke Road, will receive special intervention due to the high level of illegal connections or customers actively linked with the NWC, but without proper meters.