Insights From Solinas
Water is essential for life and is essential for economic development, but millions of liters of treated, potable water around the world—and especially in India—are never put to use, resulting in an invisibly lost water entity colloquially known as Non-Revenue Water (NRW). With increasing pressures on water sustainability and water security experienced in India on an annual basis, action against NRW represents a national priority rather than a technical priority.
What is Non-Revenue Water?
Non-Revenue Water refers to water that has been rendered but doesn’t reach the customer. The breakdown of these losses includes physical (e.g. leaks and bursts), commercial (theft or malfunctioning meters), or systemic (e.g. human error in data handling or unbilled use consumption). The International Water Association has reported that NRW can reach as high as 50% in some of the Indian cities. This means of all the water produced in these cities, half does not produce revenue and it does not reach the intended customer. The implications of NRW stemming from these high levels of water loss are concerning to think about for hydro-political, economic, and social reasons, especially as it relates to effective Non Revenue Water management and water loss control strategies for urban areas.
Why NRW is a Silent Threat
The implications of NRW does not just go back to the water utilities having to absorb economic losses. NRW acts as a barrier to equitable water distribution, particularly relevant in densely populated urban centres where water supply and demand are approaching a critical level. Leaky pipelines waste a finite resource, and potentially compromising the health of individuals through system contamination by wastewater or groundwater from leaky infrastructures.
From an economic perspective, NRW sees critical investments made in the supply chain for everything from potable water treatment to pumping entering a state of inertia—municipalities actually pay to run through the water supply chain process treating the water which never gets utilized. According to the World Bank, water utilities in India lose about $2.5 billion annually because of NRW. For a country like India, which seeks to provide piped water supply to every household across the country through campaigns such as the Jal Jeevan Mission, inefficiencies like NRW have real implications for the time it will take to meet the plans objectives for water supply and the altered total costs at the end of the planned investment timeframe.
Different Types of NRW Problems in India
India’s water supply infrastructure is a mix of old and new, in many cities, it is often difficult to find records of the pipelines made, or even any documentation at all. The primary causes of NRW in India are:
Old infrastructure: As water pipelines corrode and become brittle, they tend to leak more, this is an ongoing problem for many water pipelines.
Illegal connections: Use of unauthorized connections and tapping into water lines will lead to additional (meter less) water consumption and are a primary cause of distribution losses.
Metering errors: Water supply meters that are unreliable, inaccurate and obsolete will misrepresent use, cause consistent errors in billing, and limit accurate metering of water supplied.
Lack of monitoring: Many water boards are unable to monitor supply because they do not have live data showing the condition of pipelines or where leaks are present.
These types of inconsistent, unreliable and poor monitoring problems are generally worse when state water boards are given limited investment, lower funding, a lack of skilled or trained resources, and a lower focus on NRW as an institutional problem.
Government Response and Policy Planning
In recognition of the loss of water and, the concern over a typical water-loss problem, The Government of India has made NRW a priority in several of its flagship programs. Both the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and Smart Cities Mission, provide urban local governance with the expectation that they will invest in strategies that support sustainable water-loss, as well as optimizing the management of supply of water, to their customers.
Several cities have implemented district metered areas (DMAs) where the flow can be monitored and leaks identified through systematic methodologies. Some cities have partnered with research organizations to make maps of their pipeline networks using geographic information systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing. Some state governments are trialing Internet of Things (IoT) flow meters, and methods that are data-driven, to identify unaccounted for water losses, often in an innocuous way.
The Role of Technology in Reducing NRW
Modern problems require modern solutions. To effectively reduce NRW at scale, there needs to be a shift from reactive to proactive pipeline management. Some of the key technological approaches that are becoming standard worldwide, including India, are:
- Acoustic and pressure-leak detection
- Robotic pipeline inspections for structural faults
- Smart water meters and automated billing
- GIS mapping of network and asset tracking
- Data analytics/AI for predictive maintenance
These digital water solutions and smart water management technologies help water utilities to not only reduce physical losses, but also provide a transparent view of their system to better organize repairs and upgrades. Improving water utility efficiency and water asset management is critical to sustainable water management.
As the largest consumer of groundwater in the world, India is extracting more than 250 billion Cubic Meters of groundwater every year, in a push to curb NRW, it is imperative save a vital resource. According to the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organization (CPHEEO), the NRW average Indian cities is reported at 40-50%. This shows the size of the problem and opportunity for NRW reduction and technology for water conservation.
Reducing NRW is about more than just fixing leaks—it is about confidence in public utilities, accountability, and ensuring every drop counts. The pressure on India’s already vulnerable water resources continues to grow from rapid urbanization, population growth and climate change. Every liter that can save to support sustainability is a step in the right direction.
