Harnessing Data Science to Solve Apparent Loss

By Janani Mohanakrishnan, Christine Boyle & James Poff

Every day, U.S. water utilities lose an estimated six billion gallons of water, or 30 percent of the water they provide, through non-revenue water loss. The water loss can be attributed to main leaks and storage tank overflows (real loss), and inaccurately measured or unauthorized consumption (apparent loss). This translates to a $8.76 billion annual loss in the United States. Globally, the annual value of non-revenue water is estimated to be more than $14 billion, according to the World Bank.