Nearly 30 percent of local water utilities have curtailed system leaks and commercial losses, offering early momentum to the government’s drive to secure the country’s infrastructure against severe climate risks.

According to data released by the Local Water Utilities Administration (LWUA), 149 out of 532 regional water districts either reduced their non-revenue water—water that is produced but unbilled due to physical leaks or metering errors—or maintained rates at or below the agency’s acceptable 20 percent limit.

Of those utilities, 87 registered direct operational improvements, while 62 successfully drove their losses below the national benchmark.

The operational gains are especially pronounced in Mindanao, where 61 out of 117 local water districts curbed system losses as of December 2025. Twenty-nine of those utilities managed to push their non-revenue water rates under the 20 percent target.

“Building resilient water systems requires long-term investment, but resilience also means making the most of the water we already have,” LWUA Administrator Jose Moises Salonga said during the Philippine Association of Water Districts Convention in Pasay City.

“By helping local water districts reduce losses, strengthen their operations, and improve their financial capacity, we help them provide more reliable services to the communities they serve,” he added.

Controlling physical and commercial losses is becoming a central economic imperative for the Philippines, where climate disruptions like El Niño frequently threaten raw supply.

Lower loss rates allow utilities to maximize existing production capacity without resorting to immediate, capital-intensive raw source development.

To support system upgrades, LWUA has extended ₱31.74 billion in loans to local water districts since 2022. The funding covers raw water source development, network expansion, leak mitigation, and disaster rehabilitation.

The impact of sustained interventions is visible in operational turnarounds across regional hubs. The Carcar Water District in Cebu saw its audited average non-revenue water fall from 18 percent in 2022 to 15 percent in 2024, beating the national threshold by 3.07 percentage points.

Utilities achieved these gains by pairing continuous monitoring with targeted interventions, including systematic meter replacements, pressure management, and aggressive leak detection.