Leakage of Water

The Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) has informed that water is lost from urban water supply systems due to leakages, categorized as physical and revenue leakages or technical and non-technical losses. The losses are due to water actually leaked out, theft, illegal connections and water that is not properly accounted for due to non-metering or incorrect metering. Several studies for these water losses, commonly called non-revenue water (NRW) indicate that it varies from 30 to 50% etc. The results of the pilot study in 28 cities of India in 2008-09 indicate the average NRW as 39%.

Urban water supply is the responsibility of the State Governments/Local bodies. However, MoUD is providing technical guidance to them in reducing water leakages through guidance notes and roll-out of service level benchmarks. Under the service level benchmarking programme initiated by the MoUD since 2008, the water supply providers are required to measure and quantify their service delivery performances, including reporting on NRW. These service level benchmarks have also been recognized by the 13th Finance Commission as one of the conditions for the Cities/ States to draw performance grants.

This information was given by the Minister of Water Resources & Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

MA/KT/VN