FOSS4G 2021 - The impact of application of FOSS4G on Non Revenue Water
Channel: FOSS4G
Date: 2021-11-08

Nanyuki water and sewerage company (NAWASCO) is located in Nanyuki town Laikipia county Kenya.it operates as a county water service provider mandated to serve Nanyuki town and its environs. For a long time, NAWASCO’s field officers used old maps to monitor water connections. Having inherited customers from the Nanyuki Municipal council, they had to do an intense ground work to mark their territory. They walked around with the old maps following water pipelines between intake and the consumption points in order to identify the number of customers served under their jurisdiction.
That was cumbersome! With advancement in technology, a decision was made to digitize the system to ease the identification burden.
Journey to Digitization.
To kick-off the digitization journey, QGIS a Free and Open Source Geographic Information software was used to convert old maps into computer readable documents that were used to develop the Geographic Information System. A GIS database was developed using POSTGIS where all the digitized data were stored. For analysis purposes and building a strong GIS system field data was collected using hand held GPS .These included pressure data, new connections, newly installed appurtenances and fittings.
The amount of water lost between production and billing points has been one of the major challenges faced at NAWASCO. FOSS4G applications has assisted the team to have a better understanding of network and prompt leaks and bursts repairs hence reducing non- revenue water. Nanyuki water success story of Non-Revenue water reduction from 55% to 30% is largely due to adoption of GIS technology (Free and Open Source Geographic Information software. The water utility has also improved its billing efficiency through GIS. Meter readers, billing officers, repairs and maintenance team and non-revenue water team are now able to locate customers using shared vector tiles from the link.

This is a presentation proposal on the impact of FOSS4G in Nanyuki water and Sewerage company.
- Roles OF GIS in Nawasco
- Planning support
- Design support
- Maintenance support
- Performance analysis support

FOSS4G are used in NAWASCO to determine the location of customer meters, water pipes, sewerage pipes and other Appurtenances using mobile phones, tablets or laptop.

This talk is related to another talk - "FOSS4G software developments for Water Utilities Management in Eastern Africa by using Vector Tiles".

Authors and Affiliations –
JAMES KIRUMBA NJENGA -NANYUKI WATER AND SEWERAGE COMPANY

Jin IGARASHI - Open source GIS software developer, also former JICA volunteer at Narok Water and Sewerage Services Company, Kenya. Developing vector tiles based Web-GIS system for Nanyuki Water and Sewerage Company.

Requirements for the Attendees –
leaflet based Web-GIS
https://www.nawascogis.co.ke/

vector tiles based Web-GIS
https://new.nawascogis.co.ke/

Github organization
https://github.com/nawasco

vector tiles tools documentation
https://docs.water-gis.com

Track –
Use cases & applications

Topic –
FOSS4G for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)

Level –
2 - Basic. General basic knowledge is required.

Language of the Presentation –
English