Newswise — Researchers at the U.S.-based nonprofit RTI International believe that if officials in developing nations could better control leaky water distribution systems, they would be able to serve roughly half of the 900 million people in the world who currently get their water from unimproved sources.
To demonstrate the principles underlying this assertion, RTI's Alan Wyatt will present a new model for estimating optimal water losses at the Water Loss 2010 Conference June 6-9 in Sao Paolo, Brazil, sponsored by the International Water Association.
"Water from new production costs about two to three times as much as water gained from reducing and controlling losses," said Wyatt, RTI senior water supply and sanitation specialist. "If utilities recover the water that gets lost in distribution, they can sell it, increase revenue, and serve more people."Losing water—whether physically through pipe leaks or commercially through illegal connections—is costing water utilities in developing nations about US$5.8 billion in revenue a year, according to World Bank estimates.
But controlling this "non-revenue water"—through leak reduction, metering, and other tactics—has its own costs. So, water utilities must aim for a balance between what they are paying to reduce water losses and what they will get in return from selling that water or off-setting the capital costs of producing more water to replace the losses.
RTI has developed a new model that calculates the financially optimal water loss level for utilities and is oriented to developing nations' needs. Other existing models for non-revenue water optimization do not account for commercial losses (a major problem in developing countries) or near-term capital expenses. They also require data that are not readily available in developing countries. Consequently, policymakers resort to generic targets for acceptable levels of water and revenue loss.
RTI's model calculates the diminishing return of reducing non-revenue water for a specific utility by comparing the marginal costs of controlling both physical and commercial losses to the marginal revenues from water sales and the marginal savings in capital costs. For utilities that lack sufficient data to fill in all the parameters of the model, it estimates default values based on trends in developing countries.
Every drop of water counts for the poor people in these nations. Millions of them live in urban slums that are not connected to the water utility. The poor end up paying higher prices to vendors who deliver water by tanker trunk or wheelbarrow—sometimes 10 times higher—than their wealthier neighbors pay to have clean water piped into their homes. Or they collect water themselves from wells that are often contaminated, and risk becoming ill.
An application of RTI's model to regional water utilities in Zambia revealed the potential to reach the poor with piped clean water by accurately optimizing water losses. In the three regions of Zambia with the worst non-revenue water levels, the increased revenue and production cost savings from optimizing water losses could pay for expanding water distribution from 74 percent to 100 percent of the population. Across all regions, Zambia could raise water coverage from 71 percent to 94 percent of the population at less than half the cost per capita of building new water supply plants.
Wyatt will deliver his presentation "Application of a Financial Model to Determine Optimal Targets for Non-Revenue Water in Developing Countries" from 3:30–4 p.m., Tuesday, June 8, at Maksoud Plaza Hotel, Sao Paolo. Simultaneous translation (Portuguese to English and English to Portuguese) will be provided during the event.
A detailed methods report describing the model was published by RTI Press June 4 and will be available in hard copy at the presentation as well as downloadable from www.rti.org/publications/rtipress.cfm.For more information, contact Mr. Alan Wyatt [[email protected]].
About RTI InternationalRTI International is one of the world's leading research institutes, dedicated to improving the human condition by turning knowledge into practice. Our staff of more than 2,800 provides research and technical expertise to governments and businesses in more than 40 countries in the areas of health and pharmaceuticals, education and training, surveys and statistics, advanced technology, international development, economic and social policy, energy and the environment, and laboratory and chemistry services. For more information, visit www.rti.org.
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