The Drivers of Non-Revenue Water : How Effective are Non-Revenue Water Reduction Programs?

van den Berg, Caroline

World Bank Group, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO WATER;    ACCESS TO WATER SUPPLY;    AVAILABLE WATER;    AVAILABLE WATER RESOURCES;    CLIMATE CHANGE;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-6997
RP-ID  :  WPS6997

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

To many, reducing water losses is seenas key to more sustainable water management. The argumentsto reduce water losses are compelling, but reducing waterlosses has turned out to be challenging. This paper appliesa panel data analysis with fixed effects to determine themajor drivers of non-revenue water, which is define as thevolume of water losses per kilometer of network per day. Theanalysis uses data from the International BenchmarkingNetwork for Water and Sanitation Utilities, coveringutilities in 68 countries between 2006 and 2011. Theanalysis finds that non-revenue water is driven by manyfactors. Some of the most important drivers are beyond thecontrol of the utility, such as population density perkilometer of network, the type of distribution network, andthe length of the network, which are largely the result ofurbanization and settlement patterns in the localities thatthe utility serves. The opportunity costs of water lossesare also key in explaining what drives non-revenue water.The paper finds that very low opportunity costs of waterlosses have an adverse effect on the reduction ofnon-revenue water. Country fixed effects turn out to beimportant, meaning that the environment in which the utilityoperates has an important impact on non-revenue waterlevels. An important conclusion is that the design ofnon-revenue water reduction programs should study the maindrivers of non-revenue water to provide utility managerswith a better understanding of what can be achieved in termsof non-revenue water reduction and whether the benefits ofthese reductions exceed their costs.