Which practice best reduces non-revenue water in a utility?

• A. Increasing water rates without fixing leaks.
• B. Ignoring metering accuracy.
• C. Replacing only customer meters with more expensive models.
• D. Implementing leak detection, meter accuracy checks, and ongoing verification.

Answer: (D)

Reducing non-revenue water comes from a holistic loss-management approach that tackles both physical losses and measurement issues. Detecting and fixing leaks lowers the water produced but not billed, cutting the physical portion of NRW. Regular meter accuracy checks ensure the amount of water delivered to customers is measured correctly, preventing under- or over-billing that creates commercial losses. Ongoing verification keeps the system in balance by continuously monitoring performance, validating data, and catching anomalies as conditions change.

Putting these elements together—leak detection, meter accuracy checks, and ongoing verification—addresses the main sources of NRW and supports continuous improvement. In contrast, raising rates without fixing leaks doesn’t reduce NRW and can worsen revenue collection challenges; ignoring meter accuracy allows water to go uncounted or miscounted; and replacing only customer meters misses the broader network and data integrity issues that drive NRW.