Unaccounted-for water (UfW), non-revenue water (NRW) or simply water losses, the difference
between water produced and water sold, has reached unacceptable levels in the majority of water utilities
all around the world. Outsourcing of water loss reduction activities is often the only feasible solution. The
paper describes the concept of 'Performance Based Water Loss Reduction' in general and provides
detailed information on the world's largest NRW reduction contract, the Selangor NRW Reduction
Project. The performance target of Phase 1 was to reduce NRW by 18,540 m3/day. The work was
completed on time and the target was over-achieved. Based on this success, Phase 2 of the Project
commenced in April 2000 with the goal of reducing NRW across the entire State of Selangor, by
200,000 m3/d over a 9 year period. After the first 2 years of the project, all targets have been substantially
overachieved.
The project cost is Malaysian Ringgit 398 M (equivalent to US$ 105 M) with a pay-back period of 6.7
years. The Internal Rate of Return was calculated to be 33.2 % based on the assumption that the value of
water equals the average tariff of RM 1.27 (equivalent to 0.33 US$). It can be concluded that
Performance Based NRW Reduction Contracts are a feasible model for water utilities around the world.
Includes 3 references, tables, figures.