Helping Senegal to meet its water and sanitation needs

The mission

Senegal has been innovating in the drinking water and sanitation sector in urban areas since 1995, meeting the ambitious targets set by the First Generation Reform in a remarkable way.

Today, water needs are growing fast: with an overall population of 15.7 million, exponential growth will bring the population level to 25 million by 2025 and 39 million by 2050.

The accelerating demographic and economic growth of Senegal, affected also by the effects of climate change, has led to the Second Generation Reform. This reform, the origin of the new leasing contract, aims to prepare for the future by modernising the water distribution network using new techniques and management methods. Its actions will contribute to achieving the goals of the Emerging Senegal Plan launched by the country's President.

Efficient infrastructures supporting population growth

A historical presence in the country

SUEZ began its support for Senegal's emergence by building infrastructure. In 1999, the Group rehabilitated the Ngnith water treatment plant, which now has a theoretical capacity of 45,000 m³/day.

Since then, three other drinking water treatment plants have been built in Keur Momar Sarr, in the north-west of the country. Keur Momar Sarr 1 and 2 produce over 130,000 m³/day. The plants were assembled in two phases between 2004 and 2011, providing 65,000 m³/day each. Keur Momar Sarr 3, which began operations in July 2021, has a production capacity of over 200,000 m³/day.

SUEZ and its partner, Consortium d’Entreprises (CDE), are also designing and building a wastewater treatment plant in Hann Bay. This 26,000 m3/day wastewater treatment plant is part of the Hann Bay Depollution Programme, undertaken by the Senegalese government. It will allow for the conservation of the marine ecosystem in the bay and improve the sanitary conditions of 500,000 residents in nine of Dakar’s municipalities.

Restauring the quality of the waters in the Hann Bay - SUEZ

Credit: SUEZ group

The challenge met: Quality water in sufficient quantities

Producing and distributing drinking water for 7 million people, 24/7

On 1 January 2020, the new company SEN'EAU took over the operation and distribution of drinking water in urban and peri-urban areas in Senegal, with SUEZ as its leading technical partner.

SEN'EAU is a company under Senegalese law with majority Senegalese ownership (55%). Following the company's establishment, its share structure is: SUEZ 45%, Senegalese state (via FONSIS) 24%, Senegalese partners 20%, employees in the sector 11%.

Client: Société Nationale des Eaux du Sénégal (SONES), a limited publicly-owned company and the state contractor managing urban hydraulic assets / Ministry of Water and Sanitation
Contract duration: 15 years

SEN’EAU's first challenge was to tackle the increasingly marked deficit in production facilities, caused by high population growth and accelerating urban development. Before Keur Momar Sarr 3 was commissioned, SEN’EAU introduced "Travaux de la pointe 2020", a programme designed to meet demand by supplying extra water. Through the programme, an extra 47,000 m³ water were injected each day.

98% of Dakar residents now have access to water 24/7

In 2021, over 183 million m3 were distributed, exceeding 2019 figures by 20 million m³.
Districts that lacked water are now supplied 24/7.
These results were achieved thanks to:

SEN’EAU's engineering expertise, enabling water produced at the new plant to be distributed to all districts in Dakar and its suburbs
a programme to renovate and renew drilling operations to increase production levels

Water is Senegal's most closely monitored resource

SEN’EAU is meeting quality criteria and respecting WHO standards through its continuous water quality monitoring system. In 2021, bacteriological and physicochemical compliance rates both reached 97.7%. By introducing a new mobile laboratory, the very long sample transport times between remote regions and the Central Laboratory in Dakar have been considerably reduced.

Innovations in intelligent production and distribution supervision for an optimised performance

In January 2022, SEN’EAU introduced two digital decision-making tools: Centre VISIO for smart network management and Point B to monitor Senegal's water production and transport facilities.

Improved customer relations

SEN’EAU has introduced a new IT system, AAR SEN’EAU, which enables to digitalise the reading of water meters and improve reliability. The new digital equipment has made watermeter readers interoperable, and 850,000 customers have switched to remote meter reading. They can now pay their water bills from their phone. SEN’EAU and customer associations have also worked together to design a new, more simplified bill.

"Plumbing School": helping young people find employment

In 2021, SEN’EAU set up a Plumbing School aimed primarily at unemployed youths aged between 15 and 20 years. The school provides free training which leads to a special qualification, the "Cap Canalisateur Réseau Eau Potable" (drinking water network plumbing certificate). It aims to train 250 young people by 2025.