Corruption in the water sector is costing Nairobi residents more than their counterparts in New York, London and Rome in utility bills.

An anti corruption watchdog revealed yesterday that dishonesty in tendering for water works, billing and connection to the mains water supply is rife.

"When corruption occurs, the cost of connecting a household to a water network increases by up to 30 per cent, raising the price tag for achieving the Millennium Development Goals," says Transparency International.

The report - Global Corruption Report 2008: Corruption in the Water Sector - found that Nairobi residents pay between $10 and $20 more compared to what residents of New York, London and Rome pay for the same water services.

Most of the money is paid as bribes to public water officials, the report says.

In most instances, people who want quick connection or reconnections line up the pockets of water officials.

"Poor people living in slums unconnected to the water grid frequently pay far more than connected consumers. In Nairobi, the poor pay five to ten times more for water than their wealthy counterparts" says the TI survey.

The TI survey says 50 per cent of Nairobi households considered their bills to be unfair and 66 per cent had experienced water related corruption in the previous 12 months.

"Corruption in drinking water emerges at every point along the water delivery chain; from policy design and budgeting to building maintaining and building water networks. It drains investment from the sector, increases prices and decreases water supplies" says the TI report.

According to the report, corruption in the water sector is a root cause and catalyst for the global water crisis that threatens billions of lives and exposes the environment to degradation.

The Managing Director of Nairobi Water company, Francis Mugo, said even though the report reflected the goings on in the city's water sector, the water distributor had cut down on corruption cases.

"We used to make Sh100 million every month before we sealed some of the loop holes for corruption in the provision of water. Now we are making Sh230 million every month. This tells you that corruption has been cut down," said Mr Mugo.

Nairobi water company sources water from Thika Dam through Ngethu Treatment Works (380,000 cubic meters), Sasumua Dam (56,000 cubic meters), Ruiru Dam via Kabete Treatment Works (56,000 cubic meters) and Kikuyu Springs (4,000 cubic meters).

The city residents need 460,000 cubic meters daily but 40 per cent of this is lost through spillage and leakage during supply.

The water company, Mugo said, also suffered from water theft. "We started to uproot the illegally connected pipes in the slums but the politicians stopped us in November last year" said Mugo. "We still have quite a number of illegal connections but we continue with the get rid of them"

The report also brings the quality of water supplied to Nairobi residents into focus. The report says the poor living in the slums depend on unhygienic water vending trucks and kiosks for water supply.

But Mugo says water supplied by Nairobi Water Company is safe for use. "Our tap water is over 100 per cent fit for direct consumption from the tap," he said, adding that the company could not vouch for water stored by consumers in containers after delivery.

To this he had a tip: Do not boil the water unless for any medical reasons. When you boil the water the residual chroline evaporates and that water, if stored, is no longer protected; you actually have a higher chance of picking a bacteria or fungus this way".

The report, the first of its kind to explore the impact and scope of corruption in different segments of the water sector, identifies a range of problems, from petty bribery in water delivery to procurement related looting of irrigation and hydropower funds to manipulation of water management and allocation policies.

"Corruption's impact on water is a fundamental governance problem that is not sufficiently addressed many global policy initiatives for environmental sustainability, development and food and energy security,"said TI chairman Huguette Labelle.