Baltimore Releases New Non-Revenue Water Figures

Baltimore has released new figures counting out just how much water the city is losing to leaks and other problems.

“Mayor Catherine Pugh and the Board of Estimates got some startling news – 35.1% of the water released from Baltimore’s water treatment plants was “lost” before it reached the homes and businesses of city and county customers,” Baltimore Brew reported.

“That statistic came from a Department of Public Works audit from fiscal year 2015, presented to the board today. Faced with information that was three years old, the board understandably wanted to know if the city was still hemorrhaging hundreds of millions of gallons of water – and tens of millions of dollars,” the report said.

It is difficult to pin down exactly where the water is going.

“Trying to get details about the water losses and what causes them (such as water main breaks, chronic pipe leakage, malfunctioning valves or meters) was thwarted by two DPW officials who circled around and dodged the questions,” the report stated.

New water loss data also recently became available in Apopka, FL, a city of around 40,000.

“An audit ordered by the Apopka City Council last fall blamed the failing high-tech meters for the city’s inability to account for 750 million gallons of water piped to residential and business customers in 2016. The lost water represents 26.1 percent of drinking water distributed by the city and is enough to fill 1,136 Olympic-size pools. The audit estimated the city lost $1.2 million in revenue in 2016 from meter failures and system leaks,” The Orlando Sentinel reported.

Water loss is an issue for utilities far and wide. PBS Newshour reported Cape Town, which contends with drought and water scarcity, forestalled the recent threat of water shortages in part by cutting water loss. “Even before the drought, the city cut losses from leaking pipes to 15 percent of water, compared with 37 percent nationally,” the report said.

According to a report by The World Bank, "The total cost to water utilities caused by non-revenue water worldwide can be conservatively estimated at $141 billion per year, with a third of it occurring in the developing world. In developing countries, about 45 million cubic meters are lost daily through water leakage in the distribution networks — enough to serve nearly 200 million people."