Liberia: LWSC Looks Far Beyond Monrovia

For communities that have lived for years with inadequate or nonexistent pipe-borne water systems, the Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation's latest expansion plan represents more than an infrastructure project. It could mark a significant shift in where Liberia delivers one of its most basic public services.

The Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation (LWSC) says six cities and communities could have access to piped water by December 2026 or June 2027, provided ongoing projects receive the financial and institutional support required to reach completion.

Presenting LWSC's budget during an Executive Budget hearing at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning on Wednesday, October 7, Managing Director Mohammed Ali said Greenville in Sinoe County, Pleebo in Maryland County and Zwedru in Grand Gedeh County are targeted for completion by June 2027.

Three other locations--Totota, Compound #3 in Grand Bassa County and Copper Farm in Fendell--are expected to be completed by December, with water potentially flowing by December or January.

The commitments, if delivered, would represent an important expansion of Liberia's urban water infrastructure beyond the capital, where LWSC has historically concentrated much of its network.

But Ali's presentation also revealed the deeper challenge facing the corporation: Liberia is simultaneously trying to expand water access to underserved cities while attempting to rescue an aging water system in and around Monrovia.

That creates a difficult policy question--whether LWSC can expand nationally while repairing the infrastructure upon which the country's largest urban population depends.

For the six targeted locations, the significance of the announcement is different.

In Greenville, the southeastern port city already has 300 connections, including health centers and schools. The planned expansion could therefore move the city from a limited and fragmented water network toward a more functional urban system.

In Pleebo, the stakes are particularly high. With a population of about 65,500, it is one of the largest population centers in southeastern Liberia. Unlike Greenville and Zwedru, LWSC has described Pleebo as a city that has never historically had a functioning piped-water system.

LWSC's own earlier feasibility work identified Zwedru, Pleebo and Greenville as priority southeastern cities for potential water-system expansion. The corporation said the studies were designed to assess water sources, network locations, purification facilities and public water-access points.

For Zwedru, the project has another dimension, restoration.

The city previously had a functioning piped-water system before the infrastructure deteriorated, particularly during and after Liberia's civil wars. Re-establishing reliable water service would therefore represent not merely new infrastructure, but the restoration of a public utility that had once existed.

For Totota, Compound #3 and Copper Farm, the implications are more immediate and localized.

Totota has more than 15,000 residents, Compound #3 more than 13,000 and Copper Farm more than 6,000, according to figures presented during the hearing. LWSC plans to connect 120 homes in each of the three newer communities, or approximately 360 households initially.

The numbers may appear modest compared with the size of Monrovia, but they represent a different principle: urban water infrastructure is gradually being treated as a national service rather than a Monrovia-centered utility.

The broader ambition is considerably larger.

Ali said LWSC's strategic objective is to provide water services to every county capital by the end of 2029.

Feasibility studies are already under way for Gbarnga, Buchanan, Kakata, Kanweaken and Fishtown, including environmental and social impact assessments and surveys to determine residents' willingness to pay for water services. The Ganta study has already been completed.

That approach is important because building a water system is not simply a matter of laying pipes.

LWSC must determine the sustainability of the water source, the technical design of the network, environmental and social implications, electricity requirements, customers' ability and willingness to pay, and the corporation's capacity to operate and maintain the system.

The corporation's service-delivery framework itself identifies reliable, affordable and customer-driven water and sewerage services as its mission.

The challenge is therefore to ensure that "water flowing" becomes a sustainable service rather than the inauguration of another system that eventually falls into disrepair.

Ali's warning about past projects provides an important context.

According to his presentation, water systems built in Buchanan and Kakata around 2018 and 2019 relied on diesel power and collapsed within about three years.

Generators at Bopolu, Voinjama and Sanniquellie, he said, have also remained unused for roughly a decade.

The lesson LWSC appears to have drawn is that infrastructure must be designed around the country's operational realities.

That is why the new systems are expected to rely on solar power rather than diesel generators.

This is not simply an environmental decision. It is an attempt to address a practical problem that if a water system depends on expensive fuel and unreliable electricity, the physical infrastructure may survive while the service itself becomes financially unsustainable.

The same concern has influenced LWSC's current reforms, which include efforts to improve financial management, billing, internal controls and operational efficiency.

While the national expansion plan offers hope outside the capital, Ali's presentation underscored that LWSC cannot expand successfully without resolving Monrovia's fundamental transmission problem.

The main transmission corridor from White Plains to Congo Town is decades old.

Ali said the line was constructed in 1968 with an estimated 50-year lifespan. Only the first 10 kilometers of the approximately 25-kilometer corridor have been replaced, leaving about 15.4 kilometers of the old line still requiring replacement.

Ali said approximately 53 percent of treated water is lost through a combination of deteriorated pipes, theft and lines exposed by erosion.

In other words, Liberia can spend money treating water at White Plains, but a substantial portion never reaches consumers.

That makes the White Plains-Congo Town pipeline not simply an engineering problem, but a national economic issue.

Every gallon of treated water lost before reaching customers represents treatment costs, electricity costs, chemicals, maintenance and potential revenue that cannot be recovered.

The need to replace the aging transmission system is not new.

The African Development Bank and OPEC Fund have financed a project to replace 15.2 kilometers of the aging transmission corridor with 48-inch ductile-iron pipe, from McCauley Hill/Johnsonville toward Congo Town. The project is intended to complement the 10-kilometer section already completed through World Bank-supported investment. It also includes smart prepaid meters and new high-lift pumps.

The AfDB describes the project as an effort to improve access to safe water, service reliability and LWSC's institutional efficiency.

That makes Ali's appeal for additional government support particularly significant.

The remaining 15.4-kilometer section is effectively the missing link between expanding the system and making the existing system reliable.

"Once we can do that," Ali said, referring to completing the remaining pipeline, "the White Plains to Congo Town corridor would be secure," allowing LWSC to turn greater attention toward the Bushrod Island side.

The vulnerability of the current system becomes clearer when considered against Monrovia's population.

Ali said a single 16-inch line serves Bushrod Island and parts of central Monrovia, reaching almost one million people.

That creates a significant concentration of risk.

A major rupture is not merely an inconvenience. It can interrupt water access for large numbers of households, businesses, health facilities and institutions.

LWSC has experienced precisely that vulnerability before. Liberia's development dashboard notes that the deteriorated main transmission line has historically experienced frequent bursts capable of leaving parts of Monrovia without water for extended periods.

The corporation's recent completion of a 48-inch pipeline connection at the White Plains treatment plant was therefore an important step toward strengthening the transmission system.

But the remaining infrastructure gap means the system is still exposed.

The implications of the LWSC plan extend beyond convenience.

Reliable access to treated water affects public health, schools, hospitals, businesses, household productivity and urban development.

Ali defended LWSC's relatively low tariffs by describing water as a human-rights issue and warning that unsafe water contributes to diarrhea and other waterborne diseases.

That argument is particularly relevant in communities where residents currently rely on wells, hand pumps, informal water vendors or other sources whose quality and reliability can vary.

The potential benefits of piped water in the six targeted communities therefore extend well beyond the number of household connections.

A functioning system can provide schools with safer water, improve conditions at health facilities, reduce the burden on households--particularly women and children who frequently bear responsibility for collecting water--and provide businesses with a more predictable supply.

LWSC says schools and health facilities are prioritized whenever new systems are established.

In Greenville, Ali said, health centers and schools are already among the 300 connections completed.

Ultimately, the biggest question surrounding LWSC's expansion program may be how to finance, operate and maintain the systems after construction.

Ali said government has financed 100 percent of major projects launched under the current management, while the corporation remains heavily dependent on government subsidies.

LWSC also carries debts inherited from previous administrations, including obligations to insurers and vendors, as well as salary arrears.

That financial burden matters because water utilities cannot survive on infrastructure investment alone.

They need predictable revenue to purchase chemicals, pay electricity bills, repair pipes, maintain treatment plants, replace meters, pay employees and extend networks.

Ali said a prepaid smart-meter pilot is progressing well and could increase collection efficiency to between 80 and 85 percent.

The AfDB's current transmission project also includes procurement and installation of 10,000 smart prepaid meters, linking infrastructure expansion with efforts to strengthen LWSC's revenue collection.

That could be one of the most consequential aspects of the reform.

A larger customer base is valuable only if the corporation can convert service into sustainable revenue while keeping tariffs affordable.

LWSC's announcement presents Liberia with two parallel opportunities.

The first is geographic expansion--bringing reliable pipe-borne water to communities that have historically lacked it.

The second is institutional renewal--fixing the financial, technical and operational weaknesses that have caused previous water systems to fail.

Read the original article on Liberian Observer.