Accounting for Every Drop and Minimizing Water Loss

Behind the clean, safe water that flows from your tap lies a vast, complex system—a network of technology, logistics, and engineering designed for reliability. Once your water provider treats that water to the highest standards, an essential part of the process begins: a sophisticated tracking system designed to monitor every single drop the utility produces. 

In the water industry, it is recognized that some treated water is inevitably lost during the journey from the plant to the customer. The difference between the total volume a utility produces and the amount actually billed to customers is called Non-Revenue Water. Reducing this loss remains a constant priority.

Non-Revenue Water typically falls into two categories:

• Real Losses (Physical), which are physical leaks from pipes, tanks, and valves that can add up to billions of gallons over time.
• Apparent Losses (Accounting), which occur when water is delivered but not accurately measured or billed due to issues like aged customer meters or complexities in billing software.

Since the passage of Arizona’s landmark 1980 Groundwater Management Act, the state requires the largest public and private water providers to keep water losses below 10 percent of total production. The ten AMWUA municipalities not only meet this standard—they exceed it. Collectively, they average about 8 percent water loss, which is below the state requirement and significantly better than the national average of approximately 15 percent. This is a remarkable achievement, especially considering these cities provide water to over 3.7 million residents—more than half of Arizona’s population, with 30 water treatment plants, and over 18,000 miles of water pipelines.

Minimizing water loss is not just about meeting a regulation; it's about stewardship of a precious resource and protecting your water rates. Like roads, power lines, and communication systems, water infrastructure ages and requires consistent, ongoing maintenance.

A key component of this high efficiency is the ongoing modernization of our aging water distribution and collection systems. This requires constant investment, which is why a significant portion of your water rate is dedicated to two critical efforts: 

• Proactive Replacement, where cities constantly refine long-term plans to replace aging infrastructure before it fails.
• Avoiding Emergencies, where this proactive approach helps minimize costly emergency repairs, prevents the significant waste from water main breaks, and limits service interruptions for you, the customer. 

Through strategic investment, thoughtful planning, and a commitment to efficiency, the AMWUA cities are ensuring reliable, sustainable water supplies for their communities—today and for generations to come.

For 56 years, the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association has worked to protect our member cities’ ability to provide assured, safe, and sustainable water supplies to their communities. For more water information, visit www.amwua.org .