The government is taking the war on water cartels to the skies. In a bid to plug the massive Sh11 billion annual revenue leak caused by "non-revenue water," the State Department for Water has unveiled a partnership with the Acumen Group to deploy satellite technology for leak detection.

Water Principal Secretary Julius Korir revealed the high-tech strategy during a crisis meeting with the Water Service Providers Association (WASPA). The country is currently losing a staggering 44% of its treated water—nearly half of total production—to broken pipes, illegal connections, and billing errors. "We are pumping billions into the ground, literally," Korir said. "This technology will allow us to map distribution networks from space and pinpoint leaks with surgical precision."

The Satellite Advantage

The new system uses radar imagery to detect treated water underground, differentiating it from groundwater or sewage. Unlike the traditional method of "walking the line," where technicians manually inspect pipes, satellites can scan entire cities in days. Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) has already flagged off a fleet of state-of-the-art leak detection vans equipped to respond to the satellite data.

• The Cost of Inefficiency: The Sh11 billion lost annually could fund the construction of several medium-sized dams. By reducing losses to the global benchmark of 20%, the state hopes to improve water access without necessarily building new infrastructure.
• Cartels on Notice: The technology also detects illegal bypasses used by car washes, industries, and informal settlements to steal water. "If you are stealing water, we will see it from space," warned WASPA Chairman Thomas Odongo.

A National Rollout

The pilot phase will focus on urban centers like Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu, where the "spaghetti" network of colonial-era pipes makes manual detection impossible. If successful, the program will be rolled out to all 87 water service providers, marking a digital turning point in the fight for Kenya’s most precious resource.