LIBERIA: Developing Framework for Reducing Non-Revenue Water through Performance Based Contract in Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation in Monrovia

The Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) faces a big challenge with 70 percent of its water lost before reaching customers. This high non-revenue water (NRW) rate makes it hard to provide good service, expand the customer base, or increase revenue. With a small network (231 kilometers that reaches fewer than 10,000 active customers) and limited funds, LWSC needs private sector participation. To address this issue, PPIAF supported LWSC by analyzing its data and creating a data library, establishing baselines of its water system operations (including the NRW rate), and determining the root causes of NRW. Finally, PPIAF helped prepare a five-year program using a staged approach for a performance-based contract (PBC) to address the NRW issue. As a result, water loss dropped from 80 to 67 percent, and district-metered areas (DMAs) were set up to track and repair leaks. PPIAF also helped prepare a term sheet for the PBC contract and developed a model PBC contract to be used as a reference for LWSC. This support will encourage the private sector work with LWSC, making Liberia's water infrastructure better.