Managing Non-Revenue Water (NRW) and Water Loss
NRW is water that does not bring revenue for the water utility as it should. It is often caused by leaks, illegal connections, water theft, inaccurate metering, and inefficient billing, among others. In Asia, water utilities lose up to 65% of their daily production, with most utilities averaging a 30% loss. High levels of NRW affect the water utilities’ ability to increase connections and expand service coverage. Aging infrastructure, financial constraints, poor governance, and poor project design all aggravate NRW management.

NRW and water loss reduction is a major focus area for WaterLinks development partners, who aim to help utilities in the region reduce NRW by:

• Understanding of how much water is being lost and where; 
• Understanding commercial and physical losses;
• Creating strategies to reduce and manage NRW; and
• Developing district meter areas (DMAs) to manage losses, pressure management, water quality and continuous supply.

The following resources demonstrate the kinds of water operator partnerships, toolkits, and trainings WaterLinks development partners have developed in support of NRW reduction. 

Current and Past Water Operator Partnerships on NRW:
Some of the 27 water operator partnerships and other capacity building initiatives established with ADB and USAID's help since 2007 include:

• Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) in the Philippines reduced their non-revenue water in a pilot area from 30% to 11% with help from City West Water in Melbourne, Australia.  Now the partners, who say that the twinning has been very successful and developed lasting friendships, are working to scale up these improvements through MCWD's network. 
• Bac Ninh Water Supply and Sewerage Company in Vietnam used DMAs to better analyze its water losses, with help from Ranhill Utilities Berhad in Malaysia. Through the partnership, water losses in the pilot area have fallen to 40% from 70% and Bac Ninh is working towards applying the DMA methodology to reach all of its 121,000 customers.

 See More Partnerships on NRW

Featured Publication: 

• The Manager's Non-Revenue Water Handbook: a Guide to Understanding Water Losses
  Developed by Ranhill Utilities and USAID,  this handbook provides practical advice to lead the utility manager through the stages of addressing NRW: first, understanding and quantifying NRW, and then developing a strategy to address it.

>> See Additional Resources on NRW Management

Trainings Organized by Partners on this Topic:

• 5-Day NRW Training organized by ADB, World Bank, SEAWUN and SAWUN, May 12-16, 2008 in Manila, Philippines
  The course offered a systematic program on NRW assessment and management of water utilities in Asia and the Pacific. This was the first of three courses/workshops held in 2008 under the Water Operators Partnerships (WOPs) Program. The workshop was attended by representatives from water utilities in Southeast and South Asia.
• 2nd NRW Training organized by ADB, SEAWUN and SAWUN, Nov. 20-14, 2008 in Sabah, Sarawak, Malaysia 
  The objectives of the 2nd training course were to: examine the utilities’ submitted NRW Action Plan “homework”, discuss success stories and problems encountered in the implementation of the proposed action plan, and share knowledge sharing for improving performance.
• 3rd NRW Training organized by ADB, SEAWUN and SAWUN, July 6-9, 2009 in Hanoi, Vietnam
  This final workshop focused on polishing NRW reduction plans and improving participants’ NRW management skills. It aimed to: improve the participants’ skills in implementing NRW reduction programs, develop institutional plans and staff incentive programs to improve NRW management, and facilitate information exchange among participating utilities to overcome difficulties and share experiences in NRW management.