Once connected, customers are under obligation to pay bills in proportion to the volume of water consumed or utilized. Water supply disconnection takes place on all accounts with outstanding bills of 30 days and reconnection is only effected upon payment of full outstanding bill and a reconnection fee of Five Thousand Kwacha (K5,000.00). The Board also disconnects water supply to those that are involved in illegal water connections.

High bills ensue owing to increased charges on a registered bill. This can be triggered by a number of factors, including underground unnoticed water leakages, leaking taps, an increase in the number of users, or an increase in usage stemming from various occurrences or situations. Customers are required to see to it that leaking pipes or taps within their premises are swiftly attended to in order to avoid unnecessary high bills. To avoid high bills, customers are advised to:

• Turn off taps tightly while not in use.
• Wash kitchen utensils, fruits and vegetables in a basin instead of running water from the tap.
• Do not let the water run while brushing your teeth, shaving, or washing your face/ hands.
• Do not use running water to defrost meat or other frozen foods.
• Soak pots and pans instead of letting the water run while you scrape them clean.
• Make sure your home is leak-free. Fix all water leakages in your home.
• Do not waste water waiting for it to get hot. Capture it for other uses.
• Maintain service lines after the meter to avoid water loss through leakage.
• Bath your pets outdoors in an area of your lawn that needs water.
• Avoid flushing toilets unnecessarily.
• Check toilet leaks by adding coloring to the Cistern.
• Train children to turn off faucets tightly after use.
• Water your garden with used water.

When a meter is stolen, the customer is required to report the matter to the police before coming to the Board for meter replacement. The customer is required to meet the replacement cost of the meter when their meter is stolen. The meters will be replaced following payment by customers. The fee for meter replacement is K121,400 if it has been stolen without the box, and K140,000 if it has been stolen with the box as well.

Customers can now pay their bills online through National Bank banknet, FDH Oneclick, Standard bank 247 Online, NBS EazyOnline, Ecobank Online and First capital bank. Mobile payments are also available via TNM Mpamba and Airtel Money.

Blantyre Water Board's tariff structure can be accessed here

Blantyre Water Board's Service Centres are as follows:

• Chichiri Customer Service Centre – Northgate Arcade, Masauko Chipemphere Highway.
• Soche Customer Service Centre – Soche East Mall, Kapeni Road
• Blantyre Customer Service Centre – Everest House, Lower Scatter Road.
• Kameza Customer Service Centre – Petroda Mall, Chileka Roundabout.
• Limbe Customer Service Centre – Ex Limbe Leaf Offices, Partridge Avenue.
• Bangwe Customer Service Centre – Bangwe Post Office Building, off Midima Road.

Blantyre Water Board has a decentralized structure that ensures quick and efficient decision making. BWB has three Zone offices which are under the leadership of Zone Managers. Zone offices coordinate the following activities:

• Meter reading and billing
• Handling customer complaints
• Connections of new customers
• Detection of illegal connection
• Repair and replacement of mains - Handling faults
• Maintenance of Mains

Blantyre Water Board Zone offices are located as follows:

• Soche Zone – Off Kwacha road, Next to Malawi Housing Corporation Offices.
• Kabula Zone - Along Chileka Road at Nyambadwe Reservoirs, first turn right from Blantyre after Nyambadwe Peoples.
• Kabula Zone - Along Chileka Road at Nyambadwe Reservoirs, first turn right from Blantyre after Nyambadwe Peoples.
• Limbe Zone - Ex-Limbe Leaf Offices, along Partridge Avenue.

When in doubt of the overall accuracy or performance of a meter and the readings delivered, customers can request for their meters to be tested at a fee. Such requests and the accompanying payments should be made at the Board's customer service centers, where customers will then be advised accordingly and assisted.

Customers are advised to report instances where their CIU's fail to connect to meters to check balances or load tokens. Customers are strictly advised not to tamper with the meters or CIU's in such instances to try to resolve the problem, but to report to the customer contact center on 5580 (toll free on TNM numbers only) or via WhatsApp on 0888 100 700 or 0994 866 666. To maintain full functionality of CIUs, customers are reminded to ensure that they are kept clean at all times, and kept in a dry area away from moisture while not in use.

The minimum charge is levied from 0 – 5000 liters (0-5m³). Minimum charges are also levied in some cases where customers cannot be billed for various reasons. In these cases, minimum charges are applied on a case by case basis.

Disparities may occur due to technical faults or errors. In such cases, where disparities are observed, customers can raise complaints at the customer service centers, or via the customer call center line 5580 (toll free on TNM numbers only).

Meter reading is done once in a 30 day's cycle. Where this is not possible due to faulty meters, locked gates, vicious dogs etc a reasonable estimate is determined using previous consumption trends of the last three month's consecutive actual readings. The consumption will be indicated on the bills, and where readings are estimated, the same will be indicated on the bill. Where bills are estimated, the accounts shall be automatically corrected upon receipt of actual readings in subsequent months.

Faults can be reported at the Board's customer service centers, or via WhatsApp on (+265) 888 100 700 or (+265) 994 866 666. Faults can also be reported via the customer call center line 5580 (toll free on TNM numbers only), or online through Online Fault Reporting.

To report theft, bribery, corruption, fraud, illegal water connections and vandalism, customers and the general public can report to the BWB call center on 5580 (toll free on TNM numbers only), or via WhatsApp on 0888 100 700/ 0994 866 666. These can also be reported online.

Fault sweeping exercises are initiatives carried out by Blantyre Water Board where large scale maintenance works are executed on main pipes and other BWB facilities in order to ensure that the Board's services remain reliable and efficient. These are carried out periodically across all of the Board's zones.

The process involved in water production starts from the extraction of water from Blantyre Water Board's sources, namely, the Shire River at Walkers Ferry Treatment Plan, the Mudi Dam at Mudi Works Treatment plant, the Mulanje/Nguludi Treatment plant, and Boreholes at Lunzu, Hynde and Bvumbwe.

The water extracted from the surface sources i.e. rivers/dams, known as raw water, is then directed to the Treatment Plant's pre - settlement tanks, where the initial treatment process begins by naturally allowing particles in the water to settle down at the bottom of the tanks. The water then flows to coagulant chambers where the flocculation process takes place, after which it flows to Clarifiers where sedimentation begins in order to remove silt particles from the raw water. The water then flows through filters to completely remove all the suspended particles from the water, after which it undergoes chlorination to finalize the treatment process.

Having undergone processing, the processed water is then directed to Blantyre Water Board's pumping stations, where it is finally pumped into various Service Reservoirs (Tanks) from where it is then supplied to the Blantyre Water Board's customer consumption areas/Zones.

Blantyre Water Board supplies water to the City of Blantyre and parts of Thyolo and Chiradzulu Districts, covering a land area of over 76,000 hectares, and supplying water to over 1,000,000 people.

Blantyre Water Board continues to embark on various anti vandalism campaigns across all of its zones in order to engage community opinion leaders, local authorities, law enforcement as well as customers to work together in the fight againt theft and vandalism of meters and other facilities owned by the Board. It still remains the responsibility of the customer to ensure that meters are protected from theft or damage on their premises.

Customers can access the BWB Madzi app by visiting the google play store and downloading the application to their phone. The BWB Madzi app is only currently available on Android devices but will also be accessible on Apple devices soon. The app enables customers to access various features which include the following:

• Token enquiry
• Checking bills
• Bill Payment
• Complaint filing
• Fault Reporting
• Tariff Structure
• Notices
• Service Suggestions
• Other BWB Services

The BWB Madzi app can be downloaded by clicking on the link https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mw.bwb.bwbapp

Customers can access the BWB call centre line by calling 5580 toll free on TNM lines only. An additional toll-free line will soon be available to cater for Airtel lines. Customers can also access BWB support from the BWB social media sites, by following the links below:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/blantyrewaterboardmalawi
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/blantyre-water-board/?viewAsMember=true

Customers are mandatorily required to fill in their KYC forms and have them delivered at BWB offices, online or via email in order to enable the Board to identify customer locations better and provide enhanced communication for improved customer service. These can either be filled by the tenant or the landlord.

Customers are required to provide a copy of a valid National for Malawian Nationals and a copy of a passport for non-Malawian citizens when submitting their KYC forms. Failure to update KYC customer details translates into unauthorized connection and therefore warrants uprooting of the water supply connection.

KYC forms can be downloaded or filled online via the links below: -

• — Fill Online : https://bwb.mw/online_applications/forms/KYC.php
• —Printable Document (PDF): https://bwb.mw/Downloads/bwb_kyc_for.pdf

In cases where water tokens purchased online do not appear on a customers device, customers can request for the token by dialing 5580 (toll free on TNM numbers only). Alternatively, customers can also check for the token on the BWB website by following the link below:

• — This website : https://www.bwb.mw/PrepaidTokenEnquiry.php

Customers can also enquire of their tokens via the BWB Madzi app, which can be downloaded at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mw.bwb.bwbapp

The Malawi Water & Sanitation Project – 1 (MWSP – 1) is a World Bank funded project whose objective is to increase access to improved water supply and sanitation services in Blantyre Metropolitan Area and to enhance the operational and financial efficiency of Blantyre Water Board and Blantyre City Council.

The project is expected to directly benefit 330,000 residents in the Blantyre Metropolitan Area with improved water, 100,000 people with improved sanitation services, and 480,000 people with safely managed refuse collection services. This will result from the rehabilitation and upgrade of the water and sewerage infrastructure and solid waste management upgrades, including the construction of a new landfill, and improved collection services. The project duration is 5 years, from June 2023 to March 2028.

Some of the key areas to be implemented under the project will include the following:

• — Rehabilitation and upgrading of Mudi intake and water treatment plant to strengthen the resilience of the water supply system with an alternative source of water during water interruptions caused by frequent floods and siltation along the Shire River. The intervention will help in increasing the production capacity at Mudi and hence making more water available to the to the residents of Blantyre and surrounding areas.
• —Distribution network upgrade with around 266km pipe replacement/uprating and DMA management activities so as to reduce NRW and improve water availability to serve more people. This will help in reducing water losses emanating from frequent pipe bursting of the old network, and hance making more waer available to residents of Blnayre and surrounding areas.
• —Construction of storage reservoirs in Nyambadwe, Chirimba, Ndirande, South Lunzu, Kanjedza, Chilomoni, Kameza, and Mount Pleasant. The construction of the storage reservoir will help in stabilizing water supply in these areas including the whole Blantyre Metropolitan Area.
• —Construction of new transmission mains from Chileka to Blantyre (Nyambadwe & Ndirande) and Chilomoni. This will ensuremore water abstraction from our Shire River source to Blantyre.
• —Construction of Solar PC for Blantyre Station (Mudi, Chichiri, Nyambadwe, Soche, Zomba Road, Chigumula, Kameza, and Kanjedza Forest and upgrading of pumping equipment at Walkers and Chileka. This will help in reducing electricity costs and hence ensuring water affordability of the resource to the residents of Blantyre and surrounding areas.
• —Construction of Smart Kiosks (Communal water points) in various low income and cholera hotspots in Blantyre. The intervention will help to reduce incidences of Cholera and other water borne diseases in Blantyre city and surrounding areas.
• —Extension of pipeline to unserved, low income areas. The intervention will help to reduce incidences of Cholera and other water borne diseases in Blantyre city and surrounding areas.
• —Rehabilitation and upgrade of 50km of swer network and connections. This wil help in reducing pollution in the city and hence reducing incidences of cholera and other work related diseases.
• —Rehabilitation of Blantyre WWTP, Soche WWTP and Chirimba WWTP. This will help in reducing pollution in the city and hence reducing incidences of cholera and other water borne diseases.
• —Construction of a recycling plant and an engineered land fill and associated refuse management vehicles and sanitation marketing and stakeholder engagements and public sanitation interventions. These activities will ensure improvement in solde waste management in Blantyre city.
• —Construction of public toilents in ten primary schools, five markets, and five clinics and technical assistance. The intervention will help to reduce incidences of cholera and other water borne diseases in Blantyre city and surrounding areas.