Tackling non-revenue water requires a collaborative strategy

Non-revenue water (NRW) losses are currently estimated at around 41%, posing a significant environmental risk and a financial shortfall for municipalities. Chetan Mistry, marketing and strategy manager for Xylem Africa, considers the threat and steps to counteract the problem.

Papers such as ‘Counting the lost drops: South Africa's study into non-revenue water’ and work by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) push for systemic solutions. In general, Mistry cites the steps to remove NRW as follows: • Modernise management: Over 60% of

South African municipalities have poor to terrible water recordkeeping, according to the Water Research Council. Part of the problem is that data for business functions, asset management, leak detection and forward planning remains in silos. If municipalities used modern management platforms to merge the data into straightforward reports and dashboards, they could quickly identify water revenue losses. • Invest in existing infrastructure: Focusing too much on new water infrastructure leads to neglecting existing infrastructure and does not incentivise municipalities to pursue systemic investigations of water losses. It also makes projects around existing infrastructure less attractive to investors. Yet many case studies demonstrate that focusing on what you have is by far the best and most costeffective way to address NRW. Early wins include improving sensor data from water meters for revenue collection. • Identify leaks and stresses: If you try to solve NRW by exclusively hunting leaks, you will not gain much in the long term, as only around a quarter of NRW losses result from leaks. But as part of

a systemic and broad strategy, you can make and keep significant gains. Modern leak and stress detection technologies make this possible, through the use of acoustics and electromagnetism to scan hundreds of kilometres of pipe network within hours. • Promote best practices: The steps articulated here are all inspired by best practices. NRW is a global problem – roughly 24% of countries have NRW rates of 40% or more (Global Water Intelligence, 2017.) But many have bucked the trend and did so by using established best practices. The word ‘systemic’ keeps appearing in NRW conversations because it’s a question of culture and ongoing practices, not isolated remedies. • Encourage private investment: Water projects are expensive, and those related to NRW are no different. But private investors shy away from NRW projects because they are prone to fail if executed in a piecemeal fashion.

Chetan Mistry, marketing and strategy manager for Xylem Africa

NRW’s low-hanging fruit

However, by using a combination of modern management and maintenance technologies, the gains are incredible. Singapore, which runs the world's largest smart water network, has reduced NRW losses to under 5%.

In another example, when the city of Milan, Italy, scrutinised its main pipelines, it quickly found over 20 major leaks that traditional methods would never have detected. And in Colorado, USA, advanced leak and stress detection canvassed an 80 km pipeline in under a day, revealing numerous stressors before they turned into leaks.

Mistry explains that if you want to score some quick wins against NRW, there is a clear place to start. Quantitywise, commerce and industrial customers represent about 5% to 15% of a municipality's utility customers but 35% to 60% of overall revenue. NRW projects should focus on those customers, specifically whether their usage is adequately monitored. Doing so will encourage the adoption of best practices.

“If municipalities combine best practices with good management, they can make gains quickly and unlock a lot of lost revenue,” Mistry concludes.