
Newsletter
10
was observed that the tracking of
the payment commitments were
being done manually and thus
were quite ineffective
V. North Western Water and
Sanitation Company
The annual inspection of
North Western Water and Sanitation
Company (NWWSC) was conducted
during the period 22nd to 25th September
2025. The inspection covered only
ve (5) operational districts under the
CU’s jurisdiction namely; Kasempa,
Mufumbwe, Kabompo, Mwinilunga
and Solwezi, including a station under
Solwezi District called Mutanda.
The summary ndings were as follows:
1. Previous directives - were not fully
complied with especially those
relating to failure to maintain hours
of supply according to the SLGs in
Kakilufya township of Mufumbwe
District, FTC of Kabompo District
and some selected townships of
Solwezi District; Procurement of
auxilliary ttings to effect new
connections for outstanding fully
paid applicants for new water
connections; and development
and implementation of NRW
Strategies for all the districts
aligned to the corporate strategy.
2. Hours of supply were below the
SLGs in Solwezi District where
some service areas of Kimale,
weigh bridge, Trans-Engineering,
Mushtala, ZESCO Compound,
Kansanshi Hotel area, Cheshire,
Riverside, stadium, Magrade,
Zambia Compound, Kimasala,
Messenger, urban extension and
Kizomba area received erratic to no
water supply. Further, Kansanshi
turn off and Kazomba received
10 hours; Parts of Messengers,
SOLTECH, Weighbridge and
Kimale received 8 hours; and
Tuwangani only received 6 hours;
Mwinilunga District where some
service areas such as parts of
Rentals received 6 hours, BOMA
received 13 hours; Lunga received
16 hours, Old Mayadi received
13 hours, Police Compound
received 10 hours; Junior and
Masters Camp received 13 hours;
Kabompo District where some
selected networks of Chikata,
Kavindele, INDECO and Site and
Service were supplied below the
SLG of 23 hours; and Mufumbwe
District where some selected
networks in BOMA received 12
hours while the areas on high
elevation such as parts of Zone
A received only 8 hours of water
supply. Furthermore, hours of
supply in the districts were not
weighted per area/township (low,
middle and high points). Hours
of supply in the districts were
weighted using unconrmed
served populations. This was
because the standard family size
used in the computation was
way over the recommended size
and multiplied by total household
number of water connections in
the service area.
3. Commercial aspects - non-
compliance issues were observed
by the CUs failure to generate and
issue customers with complaint
numbers in Kabompo, Mwinilunga
and Solwezi Districts contrary
to the NWASCO Customer Care
Guidelines; delays to connect
fully paid applicants for new
water connections which stood
at 917 at the time of inspection in
all districts contrary to the SLGs;
Lapses in debt management as
some accounts were allowed to
accrue high bills without being
on any payment plans or being
disconnected. Some accounts
on debt repayment plans were
abrogating or did not meet the
policy criteria for debt repayment
but continued to receive service
without disconnection; Failure to
adhere to the CUs Commercial
Policy on debt management
where some sampled previously
disconnected accounts had
their services restored without
following provisions of the
Commercial Policy; Lapses
were observed in accounting
for disconnected customers
where some sampled accounts
appeared in the disconnected
register and yet scrutiny of the
account statements showed
that the customers was still
receiving service, adding to
the increased NRW for the CU;
Lapses were observed with kiosk
management where some vendor
sampled accounts had very high
outstanding balances attributed to
historical debt; Sampled inactive
accounts with service withdrawn
beyond three months were still
being debited with meter charges
contrary to provisions of the
CU’s Commercial Policy; Lapses
were observed with respect to
disconnection procedures as
some accounts recorded as being
disconnected did not have a
disconnection fee debited on the
account statements; and failure
to commence litigation measures
against illegal water connections.
4. Financial Aspects – non-
compliance was observed
by the CUs failure to have
up to date audited nancial
statements contrary to the
Accounting Guidelines; failure
to ring-fence the meter charges,
sanitation surcharge and new
connections fees contrary to the
Ring-fencing and Accounting
Guidelines; failure to reconcile
bank statements on time; and
failure to code and update assets
for completed works. Lapses
were also observed in stores
management evidenced by failure
to poor stores management
practices in all districts serve
Solwezi where basic standard
stores management practices
such as use of bin cards,
stock control cards and goods
received notes were either not
being updated or missing; Zero
billings were not disaggregated
into their respective categories
in Kasempa and Mwinilunga
Districts; e.g. service withdrawal,
stuck meters, disconnected, bare
plot, no service, etc.; and the
CU reported having 5,000 and
300 under-registering domestic
meters in Solwezi and Kabompo
Districts respectively. This was
attributed to old age. However,
no investigations were conducted
to substantiate the claim and
to what extent they were under
registering.
As per regulatory requirement,
NWASCO issued directives to all
the CUs with timelines to address
all the issues of non-compliance
and those of concern to improve
water supply and sanitation
service delivery.
Newsletter
10 Newsletter
10
INSPECTION HIGHLIGHTS