Track: Quality Control and Management

Abstract

Municipalities always face the challenge of water losses (known as non-revenue water (NRW)) due to poor maintenance of water supply infrastructure. This research investigates the impact of Quality Management (QM) Tools in the maintenance function of Namibia Municipal Water Distributors. The study reveals that 18 municipalities use an average of 8 QM tools and produce an average of 23% Non-Revenue Water (NRW), which is 3% higher than the amount recommended by the International Water Association (IWA) for well managed municipalities. Only 6 out of the 18 municipalities can be classified as well managed. The study shows that the application of QM tools is still low, considering that there are over 100 available QM tools. Surprisingly, the study shows that user friendliness has little influence on tool adoption, contrary to the initial hypothesis. QM tools are adopted because they are perceived useful. It is concluded that the application of QM tools helps to reduce the generation of NRW. Furthermore, the study finds that there is a marginal negative correlation between the use of QM tools and the generation of NRW. This confirms that the application of QM tools has a positive impact on the reduction of NRW generation.