Publish the Split: What Water's Non-Revenue Loss Dashboards Teach Power DISCOMs

Water utilities are starting to treat lost water the way power DISCOMs treat AT&C losses: as a published, tracked and budgeted number. Two 2026 announcements, one from San Antonio in the United States and one from Nairobi in Kenya, show what that looks like in practice, while India's Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) 2.0 is moving rural water supply toward a utility-style service model. The pattern is useful for anyone running loss-reduction programmes on the electricity side.

San Antonio publishes its loss number

According to a Hoodline report from 24 July 2026, the San Antonio Water System (SAWS), which serves more than 2 million customers, launched a public Non-Revenue Water Dashboard that tracks water the system produces but does not bill for. The dashboard is updated monthly and splits losses into real losses (underground leaks and main breaks) and apparent losses (meter under-registration and unbilled authorised use).

That split matters. Real losses are a pipe and pressure problem; apparent losses are a metering and billing problem. Each needs a different fix and a different budget line, and a single blended percentage hides which one is moving.

The report says SAWS has cut non-revenue water by about 26% and targets a 50% reduction per connection per day by 2035. On the hardware side, SAWS plans to replace 106 Edwards Aquifer production meters by the end of 2026 and has expanded its electronic customer-meter rollout to provide hourly reads. As of 1 July 2026, crews had identified roughly 300 potential leaks, and the utility uses predictive analytics to find hidden leaks before pipes fail. The article also notes that the Texas Water Development Board requires major retail systems to file annual water loss audits, which the dashboard could feed.

Nairobi ties meters, prepaid and analytics to a tariff

A Kenyans.co.ke report dated 28 February 2026 describes a Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company plan, announced in the Kenya Gazette on 27 February and approved by the regulator WASREB for the 2025/2026 to 2028/2029 tariff period. The programme costs Ksh2.57 billion, to be recovered through the new tariff structure, and aims to bring non-revenue water down from 54% to 39% by 2028/2029.

The design is layered rather than meter-only:

• Customer meters are replaced first for high-consumption users above 100 cubic metres per month, then for other categories, with tens of thousands of old or faulty meters swapped out.
• Inline ultrasonic meters go onto bulk and distribution lines, and smart meters at production points and reservoirs, so the utility can measure what enters the system and not only what is billed.
• Meters transmit over GSM, LoRaWAN or NB-IoT to an analytics platform intended to detect pressure anomalies, locate leaks and support predictive maintenance.
• Prepaid water dispensers are planned for designated areas.
• An AI-based leak detection system is budgeted at Ksh120 million, scheduled for the 2027/2028 and 2028/2029 financial years.

Note the sequencing: AI leak detection arrives in the last two years, after the metering baseline exists. The 39% figure is a target, not a result.

India: JJM 2.0 shifts the question from building to running

In India, coverage of the JJM 2.0 guidelines says the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation released the Operational Guidelines on World Water Day, 22 March 2026, after Cabinet approved extending the mission to December 2028. The reported reform areas include assured service delivery with defined performance standards, clear accountability at state, district and gram panchayat levels, and long-term sustainability through source protection, water conservation and community ownership.

That coverage does not detail metering or non-revenue water requirements, so those specifics should be checked against the official guidelines rather than assumed. The direction of travel is still clear: once the question becomes "does the tap deliver water reliably and who is accountable", loss measurement and monitoring stop being optional extras.

What it means for utilities

For power DISCOMs, the water examples reinforce several habits worth borrowing.

• Publish the split, not just the total. SAWS separates real from apparent losses. The electricity equivalent is separating technical loss from commercial loss and collection efficiency, instead of reporting one AT&C figure.
• Measure the input side. Nairobi puts meters on production points and bulk mains. Feeder and DT metering plays the same role for energy accounting; without it, analytics have no reliable denominator.
• Sequence analytics after the baseline. Predictive leak or theft detection is only as good as the meter data beneath it. Nairobi schedules AI late in its tariff period for this reason.
• Fund it through the tariff or regulator. Nairobi's plan is approved by the regulator and recovered through tariffs, which makes it durable beyond a single grant cycle.
• Treat targets as targets. A reduction goal for 2028 or 2035 is not an outcome. Monthly public reporting is what turns it into accountability.

Key takeaways

• San Antonio now publishes monthly non-revenue water data, separating real and apparent losses, and reports a roughly 26% reduction so far.
• Nairobi's Ksh2.57 billion plan targets a fall in non-revenue water from 54% to 39% by 2028/2029, with AI leak detection budgeted for the final two years.
• Both programmes pair meters at the system input with customer metering, rather than relying on analytics alone.
• India's JJM 2.0 emphasises service delivery and accountability; the metering and loss specifics remain to be confirmed in the official guidelines.
• The transferable lesson for DISCOMs is transparent loss accounting with a measured baseline before advanced analytics.

Sources

• San Antonio water watchdog SAWS puts lost gallons on public display (Hoodline)
• Nairobi Water Company to Roll Out Smart Meters; How It Works (Kenyans.co.ke)
• Jal Jeevan Mission 2.0 Guidelines Released on World Water Day (Delhi Greens)