Only five out of 18 water treatment plants registered a slight increase in production of about 145,148 cubic meters combined
Rwandans may have to wait longer for constant water supply because major water processing plants are currently struggling to increase production due to the prolonged dry season.
The latest statistics for the water sub-sector by Rwanda utilities regulator show a declining trend of water production at several water treatment plants in the country.
According to statistics, volumes of water supplied dropped by 362 595 between December 2018 and March this year.
Only five out of 18 water treatment plants registered a slight increase in production of about 145,148 cubic meters combined.
The companies are Nyagatare, Mpanga, Cyunyu, Mutobo and Shyogwe-Mayaga.
Particularly, there was a major decline in water production at Kimisagara and Nzove water treatment plant at 131,887 and 135,453 cubic metres respectively.
Water and Sanitation Corporation (Wasac) chief executive Aime Muzora told Rwanda Today the decline was a normal trend during rainy season because of high water turbidity in the rivers, affecting operations at water treatment plants as machines takes hours to treat muddy water.
Methode Rutagungira, official in charge of urban water and sanitation said the phenomenon affected all the water treatment plants except a few with different water sources.
“While our plants were only able to produce 4,241,763 cubic meters in the month of April due to the turbidity issues, the production increased to 4,826,430 cubic metres in the month of July,” he said.
A major boost was, however, as a result of the new input by the upgraded Nzove I and Nzove II which were inaugurated in May this year, boosting their production capacity from 65 000 cubic metres to 105 000 cubic metres.