Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company Limited has waived all penalties for residents with water connections that are against the law who regularise their water connections by the end of April.
In a notice on Tuesday, the company said it plans to crack down on water connections against the law after the end of the waiver period on April 30.
Those found with irregular connections after that will be charged and prosecuted. The company lost over 50 per cent of water supplied to Nairobi to non-revenue water, which includes losses from connections that are against the law.
According to the notice, every Nairobi resident with a water connection against the law has been advised to visit any of its regional offices and regularise their water connections on or before April 30.
“Applicable penalties will be waived for customers who voluntarily regularise their water connections on or before Wednesday, 30th April 2025,” the company said.
Insisting, “Thereafter, any customer found with a water connection that is against the law shall be charged and prosecuted, in addition to being compelled to pay any applicable fines and penalties.”
The county estimates that out of 560,000 cubic metres of water supplied to Nairobi daily, approximately 300,000 cubic metres are lost due to connections that are against the law and other forms of irregular water tapping.
According to the county, in 2023, for instance, the Lang'ata Pipeline reported approximately 130 connections against the law along the pipeline serving Lang'ata, High Rise, Ngei Estate, and parts of Kibera.
The scale of irregular water connections was highlighted by the Auditor-General, Nancy Gathungu, who revealed that Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company produced 176.04 million cubic metres of water in 2020, but only 86.35 million cubic metres were billed to customers.
The remaining 89.69 million cubic metres (51 per cent of the total) represented non-revenue water, which includes losses from connections that are against the law.
“It is our mandate to ensure equitable distribution of water to all customers; however, water connections against the law continue to undermine this principle and pose significant risks to both the quality of our water supply and public health,” said Nairobi Water in its notice.
The notice on Tuesday also advised residents to pay their water dues in time to avoid water disruption.
The renewed push for the regularisation of water connections comes as the county seeks to raise its revenue collections to Ksh20 billion from the Ksh12.8 billion collected in the last financial year.
