The Smartest Litre Is the One Already in the System: Africa's Water Problem Is Also a Money Problem

Africa's water debate usually focuses on supply: more dams, more boreholes, more treatment plants. A new industry volume argues that the continent should look just as hard at the water it already has and the money it fails to collect.
ESI Africa's Water Security & Infrastructure Industry Insights Volume, published with Conlog and the STS Association, treats water as a constraint on economic growth, public health and social stability, and examines it through operational, environmental and financial lenses. Its central line is that "the smartest litre may be the one already available within the system".

From shortage to system risk
The volume asks whether the hydrological chain is breaking, how intensive water users are exposed to risk, and how demand from data centres is adding another layer of competition. It also covers the link between non-revenue water and blended finance, the influence of tariff politics on water security, and the role of metering in managing existing supplies.

Non-revenue water (NRW) is water that utilities produce but never bill, lost to leaks, theft or faulty metering. An earlier release on the 2026 volume put NRW above 35 per cent in South Africa, Tanzania and Mozambique, and above 50 per cent in Zimbabwe and among Kenya's largest utilities.

A World Bank training programme in Pretoria in March found that every participating utility reported NRW above 45 per cent, and that five utilities had mapped out a plan to cut it to 35 per cent, with estimated savings of about $57 million a year. Those numbers show why the issue is about revenue as much as pipes.

A utility that loses half its water cannot earn enough to maintain its network, which causes more losses, and the cycle repeats. The World Bank notes that utilities with low NRW consistently achieve higher creditworthiness scores.

Why finance depends on fixing leaks
Blended finance, which combines public or concessional money with private capital, can pay for water projects. But lenders need confidence that a utility can collect revenue and repay. South African Water Chamber CEO Benoît Le Roy argues that without ring-fenced revenue no financier can underwrite the risk. That makes NRW reduction and metering a financial precondition, not an administrative detail. Smart meters and better data do not produce water, but they can show where it goes and who pays.

The Ghana connection
Ghana knows these pressures. According to one analysis citing the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), the national operator's non-revenue water is 45.5 per cent, with ageing networks to blame. I could not verify that figure against a primary PURC source, so treat it with care.

Alongside leaks, Ghana's water challenge includes pollution of rivers and the strain it puts on treatment plants, an issue Ghanaians have followed closely during the fight against illegal mining. A country can have rivers and still lack safe, affordable water at the tap if the treatment and distribution system is leaking, polluted and underfunded.

Data centres and thirsty industry
The volume also flags a newer pressure. Data centres, mines, factories and farms all compete with households for water, and Africa's data-centre capacity is growing, with about 360MW existing, according to the ESI Africa release.
As digital infrastructure expands, governments and utilities will need clear rules on water allocation, pricing and disclosure. Industrial users should be expected to measure, report and reduce their consumption, and pay fairly.

What should be done
Fix the leaks first. NRW programmes, with performance-based contracts, can pay for themselves and release water without new dams.
Meter and bill honestly. Reliable metering supports fair tariffs, builds trust and protects revenue, though it must be paired with protections for poor households.
Be honest about tariffs. Under-priced water is not free; the cost shifts to taxpayers, lenders and the people who go without. Tariff politics, which the volume highlights, needs open debate.

Treat water as a business risk. The volume's webinars make the case that companies should treat water as an operational and commercial concern, not only a corporate-social-responsibility item.

Back bankable projects. The Project & Investment Network aims to connect project owners with financiers, but projects only attract capital if the utilities behind them are creditworthy.

A note on the source
This is a promotional press release for ESI Africa's volume, distributed by APO Group for VUKA Group. It promotes the volume, webinars, events such as Water Security Africa at Enlit Africa in Cape Town on 11 to 13 May 2027, and a waiting list for the 2027 edition.

Partners such as Conlog work in metering, so the emphasis on metering also serves commercial interests. The press release itself contains no data, and the figures above come from an earlier ESI Africa release and independent sources.
The core message deserves attention anyway. Africa needs new water infrastructure, but it also needs well-run utilities that know what they produce, what they lose and what they earn. Without that foundation, even the best new project will leak.

Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,
International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. (USIP)
Mustysallama@gmail.com
+233555275880

References
APO Group for VUKA Group, "Water constraints become a defining economic and infrastructure risk," Cape Town, 7 October 2026 (press release supplied).
ESI Africa / VUKA Group, "Looming bankruptcy for global water utilities," via Zawya: https://www.zawya.com/en/press-release/africa-press-releases/looming-bankruptcy-for-global-water-utilities-410997

World Bank Water Blog, "Water utility creditworthiness: reduce leaks, secure the future," March 2026: https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/water/water-utility-creditworthiness--reduce-leaks--secure-future

RIVA, "Non-revenue water: What losing a third of every drop really says about our system" (citing PURC for Ghana): https://riva2.platform-3.co.uk/journal/non-revenue-water-what-losing-third-every-drop-really-says-about-our-system

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