The challenge
In Kenya, particularly in rural and peri-urban areas, many existing water supply systems are dysfunctional due to poor management systems. One of the key challenges is non-revenue water (NRW), a loss of revenue both from poor billing and revenue collection, leaks in the system and illegal connections.
Our approach
Established in 2019, RUWASCO is a Kenyan social enterprise committed to transforming water access in Kenya’s rural and peri-urban areas. The organisation focuses on small and medium-sized piped water systems, aiming to professionalise their management through:
- Digital water billing to increase revenue and efficiency
- Non-revenue water management to reduce costs and illegal connections
- Management training to improve performance
- Public-private partnerships to increase coverage of piped water services
Results
- 260,000+ people are accessing water from 87 water utilities across 12 counties.
- 80% uptime achieved in supported utilities.
- 16% improvement in billing efficiency and 8% improvement in revenue efficiency.
What’s next
Looking ahead RUWASCO aims to scale its impact by:
- Increasing the number of water utilities to serve a larger portion of the rural population to reach 200 utilities by the end of 2026.
- Deepening collaborations with county governments, local communities and private partners to ensure sustainable water access. Several MOUs have already been planned with more agreements underway.
- Achieve break-even in 2026.
Through these efforts, RUWASCO aims to contribute significantly to achieving universal access to clean and reliable water in Kenya’s rural areas.