Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) Profile Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) is a utility company, fully owned

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Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) Profile Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) is a utility company, fully owned by the State. The company is responsible for potable water supply to all urban communities in Ghana. GWCL currently operates eight-eight (88) urban water supply systems throughout the country. Average production is about eight hundred and seventy-one thousand, four hundred and ninety-six cubic meters (871,496m3) per day (192 million gallons per day). Present portable water demand is estimated at one million, one hundred and thirty-two thousand, eight hundred and eighteen point eighteen cubic meters (1,132,818.18m3) per day (249 million per day) Urban water supply coverage is therefore about seventy-seven percent (77%), with a staff strength of three thousand, four hundred and seventy-six (3,476), GWCL serves Seven Hundred and Forty-Eight Thousand, Five Hundred and Seventy (748,570) customers, eighty-six percent (86%) of which are metered and fourteen percent (14%) unmetered.

Non-revenue Water Reduction The global volume of non-revenue water is staggering, especially in developing countries. Some estimates put global NRW at 126 billion m3/year, costing some $39 billion per year (Liemberger and Wyatt, 2018), and average global NRW above 30 percent. In addition, close to 30 million cubic meters of water is also delivered every day to customers but not paid for, because of metering inaccuracies, theft, and corrupt practices. In Africa, NRW figures ranging from five percent (Saldanta Bay, South Africa) to seventy percent (LWSC, Liberia) have been reported ( WSP, 2009; cited GWCL, 2019). According to GWCL thirty percent (30%) or nearly a third of its customers are billed on estimated consumption rather than actual meter readings with current non-revenue water figure of forty percent (40%) from fifty-three percent (53%) in 2018. GWCL has fourteen (14) operational regions and seventy-seven (77) operational districts. In 2016, GWCL formally established Non-revenue Water (NRW) sections at the Head Office, regional and district levels. However, an estimated eighty percent (80%) of NRW occurs in the Accra-Tema Metropolitan Area and Ashanti region. The responsibilities of the Section include: 

Coordinating all NRW reduction activities in GWCL 

Systematically develop NRW reduction strategies and Performance Improvement Plans for the various regions and districts. 

Undertake active leakage control 

Implement pressure management

Implement the creation and operation of District Metered Areas (DMAs) The three Accra-Tema Metropolitan Area (ATMA) regions and the two Ashanti regions contribute eighty percent (80%) of the reported water loss of the company.

Table 1 shows the service delivery and efficiency targets for the period 2018 to 2023. Table 1: Service Delivery and Efficiency Targets Performance Indicator 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 DC: ACD01-F004 NRW (%) 52.82 45.97 45 45 45 45 Resolution of compliant commercial (hrs) 1 1 1 1 1 1 Resolution of complaintsTechnical (hrs) 24 24 24 24 24 24 Resolution of complaints water quality (hrs) 24 24 24 24 24 24

Source: Ghana Water Company Limited, 2018, p. 18 Notwithstanding, the establishment of the NRW section, Stanley Mantey, Head of PR/Communication at GWCL, said at the signing of the MOU with Aarhus City, Denmark that non-revenue water currently stands at forty percent (40%) of its production. Non-revenue water or loss water is when water produced into the system is lost before it reaches the customer, and hence cannot be accounted for also referred to as unaccounted water. According to the GWCL, this phenomenon could be attributed to either a burst pipeline, leakage, water theft, or non-payment; in particular, MMDAs who owe the company huge sums of monies in arrears. For example, MMDA's indebtedness stood at over GHS 465 million as of December 2017.

Other initiatives to improve GWCL's operational efficiency and service delivery include: E-Billing The old billing software that had so many human interventions has been replaced by electronic billing software where customers receive their bills via email and SMSs. Late and non-submission of bills will be gradually eliminated. Electronic billing has introduced: 

Software as a service (SaaS) 

Cloud-based billing system (SMS and Emails) 

Meter reading and monitoring applications 

Call Centre Management 

Customer/user application 

Point of sale Application 

The Customer billing is linked to customer location E-Payment One major challenge with the existing payment procedure was bill payments take at least 28 days to reflect on customers’ bills. Where payments are made in other regions or districts, it takes a long time to be reflected in customer accounts. However, with the rolling out of the electronic payment system, a Virtual Private Network has been created through all payments made outside GWCL can be collected and monitored. Currently, payment could be made through: 

Authorized Private Collections 

Partner banks (GCB, Ecobank, SG-GH Bank, Prudential bank, Access bank) 

Mobile Money(MTN, Vodafone, Tigo-Airtel, Slydepay, E-transact, expressway) 

Visa Cards, UnionPay, and Verve 

Point of Sale devices (POS) DC: ACD01-F004 GWCL has transitioned to e-billing with increased use of mobile applications. The mode of reading meters, payments and monitoring are all done through mobile applications. The under-listed android based applications have been developed and are being improved to suit the changing needs of the company: Mobile Apps 

Customer Registration App(e-register)

Meter Reading App (e-reading) 

Management App (e-manager) 

Disconnection/Reconnection App (e-disc) 

Customer App Web-Based Apps 

Web Portal 

New Service Connection App Notwithstanding, GWCL’s management efforts to improve service delivery and efficiency, Wunpine Desah, an associated consultant at PytelNet (PytelNet is a Pan Africa software service provider), explained that “the path towards optimal service delivery, efficiency, and sustainable service is confronted with lack of system thinking/approach as there are “too many ‘silos’ in the room.” For example, GWCL currently has over eight different mobile and web-based apps.

She suggests an integrated approach; ““treating the whole water production, distribution systems as one integrated system.” Wunpine explained on this, saying “working with smart meters and sensors, the PytelNet communication network securely transmits and receives customer usage data. This powerful, two-way communication network is designed to deliver data from automated meters and sensors directly to the utilities, faster and more reliably. Remotely readings of meters, identify non-revenue water, restore power and more. “ Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) between GWCL/Tema and Aarhus City, Denmark The MoU was signed by the Managing Director of Aarhus Municipality, Henrik Seiding, and the Managing Director of Ghana Water Company Limited, Clifford A. Braimah, is a continuation of the second phase of the Strategic Sector Cooperation between the two-including the Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) from 2023- 2025, after the first phase that ran from 2019 to 2022. Although the 40 percent (40%) loss is an improvement by the water company, as hitherto 55 percent of water produced was unaccounted for, GWCL says it wants to further reduce the losses and maximize revenue generation, hence signing the MoU with Aarhus City, which has a track-record of using modern technology to effectively cut its non-revenue water to below 10 percent.

According to MD of GWCL, Clifford A. Braimah, his outfit is hopeful the continued collaboration will assist the sector to improve its services to the citizenry. He said, non-revenue water is when water produced into the system is lost before it reaches the customer, and hence cannot be accounted for. This, could be due to either a burst pipeline, leakage or even theft and non-payment. For his part, MD of Aarhus Municipality, Henrik Seiding, intimated that Aarhus has for decades worked with the issues like water loss and protection, resource efficiency and the overall development of a smart and cost-effective utility that delivers services to the expectation of its citizens and industries, and is willing to share its experience with Ghana. DC: ACD01-F004 “The city of Aarhus is focusing on sustainable development of the city with regards to climate mitigation, climate adaptation, and water management. It wants to contribute in accomplishing the ambitious SDG goals on clean water – both in Aarhus and internationally. Aarhus is facilitating sustainable development sharing experiences, methodologies and technologies in water management,” he noted. Danish Experience of Water Utilities Management A hallmark of water supply in Denmark is its being planned and managed with twofold appreciation for water as a valuable resource and the need to be mindful of energy consumption. Prioritizing across these levels has led Danish utilities to being at the forefront of developing smart water networks, fit for the twenty-first century. In several notable municipalities, the outcomes are plain to see. Non-revenue Water (NRW) is remarkably low throughout Denmark, but across the utilities of 3VAND - representing water utilities of the cities of Copenhagen, Odense and Aarhus together proving water to 2 million people – it is just 6 percent.

Meanwhile, the national security of supply is practically 100 percent. Supply as an Integrated System What emerges from the ingredients of the Danish success with Non-Revenue Water (NRW) is that there is no single solution, but rather a myriad of pieces to the puzzle, set in place with a holistic approach to planning infrastructure and managing operations. The latter dimension is described by Høgh as, “treating the whole distribution system as one integrated system.” Høgh explained on this, saying: “You have to look at optimizing your pipe infrastructure with separately metered district metered areas (DMAs), while at the same time adding all the necessary “handles” such as intelligent pumps and valves that react to the actual demand to improve pressure control and flow and combine with sensors and smart devices within a comprehensive management strategy. All sorts of factors are at play in lowering NRW; certainly, a longer-sighted solution, built for the future, is much more cost-effective in the long run” Danish DMAs, therefore, represent a multi-faceted solution, incorporating novel physical technology alongside sophisticated monitoring and operating of the network via supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. Pia Jacobsen, chief engineer – water reuse, at one of Denmark’s largest water utilities, Aarhus Vand, explains this path to securing such low NRW, saying: “It’s a thirty-year story, with a focus on water usage and leakage. The adoption of DMAs has been a major source of gains, helping us to bring NRW to around 5 percent.” But Jacobsen comments that implementing DMAs wasn’t an overnight solution. Rather, they had to be refined over time: “We’ve learned much about optimizing the size of a DMA for monitoring the water balancing and leakage, integrating their management through common SCADA platforms, and the operation of multiple teams responsible for different tasks working across.” Source: Excerpts from GWCL Reports: 2018, 2019, 2022 and William Steel, 2022 (Credit to Dr. Nantogmah Danaa)

Required:

i. What is the main problem to be solved and what are its root causes? Conduct a root cause analysis

ii. With the aid of a stakeholder wheel, identify relevant stakeholders

iii. Define and explain at least one relevant metrics that can be used to measure if and how well the objectives of the MoU between GWCL and Aarhus city will be met.

iv. What kind of alternative solutions can you identify to address the business need (s)? You are encouraged to search for information from other sources.

v. Based on the text, identify the requirements for your chosen solution(s), and develop some prototypes, and some designs of how the user interfaces would look.