MichaelD.

Boh
CityofLethbridge

WaterLossFacts

Only1%oftheearthswaterisfreshwaterthatis

readilyavailableforwatersupplyusingtraditional
treatmentprocesses.
Thereare55,000communitywatersystemsintheUS
alone,withwaterlossessuspectedtobe~6billion
gallonsaday.
Thislostamountisenoughtodelivertheneedsofthe
10largestcitiesintheUSor70%ofCanadas
population.
Inmostcases,waterlossmanagementisextremely
costeffective,usuallywithpaybacksin
days/weeks/monthsratherthanyears.
1 Thorton,J.,Reihard,S.et.al.,WaterLossControl,2002,2ndEdition,McGrawHillCompanies,Inc.

WaterLoss
Waterlossoccursbytwofundamental

means
RealLosses
Waterphysicallylostfromdistributionsystems(i.e.
leakingpipes,joints,fittings,reservoirs,tanks
overflows,improperopendrainsand/orsystemblow
offs.
Reallossestypicallyvaluedatthevariable

productioncostofwater

WaterLoss
Waterlossoccursbytwofundamentalmeans
ApparentLosses

Waterisnotphysicallylost,butunaccountedforin
thatitdoesnotgeneraterevenue(i.e.metering
inaccuracies,consumptiondatahandlingerrors,
underrecordingcustomermeters,etc..)

Apparentlossespenalizethewatersupplierat

theretailcost.

WaterAudit
Compilingareliablewateraudit/balanceisthecritical

firststepinmanagingwaterlossesinpublicwater
supplies.
Providesastartingpointonwhichlossestoaddress

foremost.
Toassessandcalculatereal&apparentlossesitis

recommendedtobeginwithastandardizedtopdown
waterbalance.

WaterAudit
AWWAprovidesafreeWaterLossAudit&WaterIndex

CalculationSpreadsheetusingtheTopdownwater
balanceapproach.
TheWaterLossAudit&WaterIndexCalculation

SpreadsheetwasdevelopedandtestedbyaWaterLoss
TaskForcecreatedbytheInternationalWaterAssociation
http://www.awwa.org/Resources/WaterLossControl.cfm?

ItemNumber=57447

TopDownWaterBalance
Waterbalancetrackstheflowofwaterfromthesiteof

withdrawalortreatment,throughdistributionsystem,
uptothecustomer.
Eachunitofwatersuppliedintothesystemneedsto
beassessedandaccountedforbyassigningitthe
appropriatecomponent.
RecommendedtoaccompanyaTopDownwater
balancewithaBottomupanalysis
UsesDistrictMeteredArea(DMA)andMinimum

NighttimeFlow(MNF)analysis.

WhyWaterIndex?
AWaterIndexisahighlyeffectiveindicatorfor

benchmarkingtheperformanceofutilitiesin
managingreallosses.
Anefficientmethodofdemonstratingloss

managementperformanceistheuseofthe
InfrastructureLeakageIndex(ILI).

InfrastructureLeakageIndex(ILI)
TheIWA/AWWAWaterAuditcalculatestheILI.
TheILIisanefficientPerformanceIndextoassessthe
operationalmanagementofreallosses.

Measureofhowwellthesystemisbeingmanagedforthe
controlofreallossesatthecurrentoperatingpressure.

Comparestheratioofthebestpossibleperformance

againstactualperformance.
Dimensionlessratiobetweenthecurrentannualreal
losses(CARL)andtheunavoidableannualreallosses
(UARL).

UnavoidableAnnualRealLosses(UARL)
DevelopedandtestedbytheWaterLossTaskForce,to

providearepresentativeequationforunavoidable
losses.
TheUARLrepresentsthelowesttechnicallyachievable
annualreallossesforawellmaintainedwellmanaged
systemandisthelikelylowerboundonwaterlosses.
Representsthesummationofthereallossesvolumes
fromleakageonmains,onserviceconnections,pipe
breakagesandstoragetankoverflows.
Forlowvolumewaterdistributionsystems,theUARL
islesseffective

WaterAudit

Billedmetered
consumption
Billedauthorized
Revenue
consumption
water
Billedunmetered
consumption
Authorized
consumption
Unbilledmetered
consumption
Unbilledauthorized
consumption
Unbilledmetered
consumption
Unauthorized
Systeminput
consumption
volume(allowfor
Apparentlosses
Customermetering
Non
knownerrors)
inaccuraciesanddata revenue
handlingerrors
water
Leakageontransmission (NRW)
Water
and/ordistribution
losses
mains
Lossesatutility's
Reallosses
storagetanks
Leakageonservice
connectionsuptopoint
ofcustomeruse
1 Fanner,V.P.,et.al.,2007,EvaluatingWaterLossandPlanningLossReductionStrategies,Denver,Colo,AwwaRF
andAWWA.

MeteratCurbStop

MeterInsideProperty

Unmetered

InfrastructureLeakageIndex(ILI)

City

Realloss(as
percentageofvolume)

ILI

Vienna,Austria

9%

Lemesos,Cyprus

13%

~1

Bristol,UK

17%

1.9

Philadelphia,USA

26%

~14

Makkah,SaudiArabia
Lethbridge,Alberta,
Canada

32%

>70

7%

1.98

ModifiedfromLiemberger andFarley,2004

FurtherResources
Thorton,J.,Reihard,S.et.al.,2002.WaterLossControl,

2ndEdition,McGrawHillCompanies,Inc.
Alegre,H.,Hirner,W.,et.al.,2000,PerformanceIndicators
forWaterSupplyServices,IWAPublishing,Manualof
BestPracticeSeries,ISBN1900222272
Kunkel,G.et.al.,2003,WaterLossControlCommittee
Report:ApplyingWorldwideBestManagementPracticesin
WaterLossControl,JournalAWWA,95:8:65
Liemberger,R.andFarley,M.(2004).Developinganon
revenuewaterreductionstrategy,powerpoint presentation
fromtheIWACongress,Marratech,Sept.2004.
AWWAWaterAuditsandLossControlPrograms,M36
Publications,3rd Edition,2009