Analysis of Non-Revenue Water in the Distribution Network of a Latin American Community
Abstract
Water shortages are now occurring globally for reasons such as global warming, population growth, tree felling and poor wastewater management; this leads to control the losses of drinking water in the supply systems of our regions to make efficient use of the water resource. The main objective of this paper is to show an analysis of non-revenue water in the distribution network of the municipality of Libano (Tolima, Colombia) over a period of five years. The community's non-revenue water is comparatively studied with national and international references. The effect of non-revenue water on the system is economically analyzed. The findings suggested that non-revenue water in the system was 1.48 times higher compared to billed water. On average, the results showed that the non-revenue water index was 59.7% during the study period. This non-revenue water index was increased during the study period by 0.697%/year. The percentage of non-revenue water in the system was 1.99 times higher compared to Colombian regulations. The water supply system stopped accounting for 9,619,656 m3, which represented an economic loss of 3,463,043 USD for 2016. The supply system probably experienced technical and commercial difficulties in reducing losses due to the magnitude of its non-revenue water index, which could be a sign of the efficiency with which the service was provided, as well as the costs that users of the system had to bear.
