Zambia loses money on water twice — and NWASCO's own report shows exactly where.
By Frank Guo · Technology & Product Leadership, addanode
Zambia's water regulator publishes an unusually candid annual report on its eleven commercial utilities. Read the latest published edition closely and two numbers explain the sector's finances better than any commentary: 57% of treated water is never billed at all — and the water that is billed costs K12.61 to deliver while selling for an average of K7.9. The first loss is measured in cubic metres. The second is baked into every invoice that does get paid.
Which edition this reads. This analysis is based on the full PDF of NWASCO's Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Report 2023 (covering 1 January – 31 December 2023) — the most recent edition publicly downloadable from nwasco.org.zm at the time of writing. Newer editions exist: the 2024 report was launched in April 2025 and the 2025 report in April 2026 (at which launch Mulonga WSC was named best commercial utility and NRW was reported still above 50%), but neither has been published online. Where we cite those launches, the source is press reporting, and we say so. This page will be refreshed within 30 days of a newer edition appearing online.
Two leaks, one balance sheet.
Leak one: 57% never becomes a bill
Sector-average non-revenue water moved from 56.7% in 2022 to 57.0% in 2023, with utilities losing an additional 7.23 million cubic metres year on year. The benchmark NWASCO publishes for "good" is below 20%. No Zambian utility is anywhere near it.
Leak two: the billed water sells below cost
From the report's own foreword: it cost the commercial utilities an average of K12.61 to provide water and sanitation services that were sold at an average of K7.9. Even a utility that billed every drop would still lose roughly a third on each one.
Put the two together and the arithmetic is stark: of every 100 cubic metres produced, 57 earn nothing — and the 43 that do earn are sold at a structural loss. Collection efficiency then fell from 92% to 85% in the same year, so a growing share of even those below-cost invoices went unpaid. Cost coverage duly dropped: O&M cost coverage at the 90% collection benchmark declined from 81% to 75%, and — in the report's own words — all eleven CUs were below 100% O&M cost coverage by collection. Not most. All.
The best-NRW award was left vacant.
Each year NWASCO recognises the best-performing utility per indicator. For non-revenue water in the 2023 edition, the recognition table simply reads N/A, with a footnote worth quoting in full:
«NRW is still very high. None of the CU is close to the benchmark hence not recognising the best.»
A regulator declining to name a winner because nobody is close enough to deserve one is a stronger statement than any percentage. It also tells you where the sector's leverage is: this is not a league where the leader needs defending — it is one where the first utility to get losses genuinely under control changes its own finances and the national picture at the same time.
Metering went up. Losses went up anyway.
The sector-average metering ratio improved from 75.5% to 79% in the same year, with around 12,000 new meters installed and two utilities making notable gains through funded programmes. And NRW still rose.
If that pairing sounds familiar, it should: Kenya's regulator reports a 97% metering ratio alongside 48% losses, flat metering for three years while NRW climbed five points — we analysed that report line by line. Zambia is now producing the same evidence from a different starting point. The reason is structural, not Zambian: customer meters count what reaches customers. Most loss happens upstream of them — bursts, leaks and unauthorised connections between the treatment works and the meter — and no quantity of customer metering can see into that gap. What sees into it is zone measurement: metered district inlets, continuous night-flow data, and reconciliation of what entered a zone against what its meters recorded.
NWASCO's report makes a related point in passing that deserves more attention than it gets: in the absence of metering, reported volumes are estimates — which means a utility's NRW figure is only as real as its production and zone metering. A sector average of 57% built partly on estimated volumes could be better than it looks, or worse. Only instruments settle it.
Coverage grew in people and fell in percent.
- 249,193 more people gained access to water and 274,714 to sanitation — real, creditable progress. Yet national urban water coverage fell from 88.2% to 87.7%, because the urban population inside CU service areas grew faster (to about 8.36 million) than connections did. Zambia's utilities are running to stand still.
- Hours of supply edged up from 16.9 to 17.4 per day.
- Ranking: Southern WSC reclaimed first place (from second in 2022), with Eastern WSC second and Chambeshi third — Chambeshi also most improved on metering and hours. Kafubu was recognised as most improved overall, and Luapula for the best-quality data submission. At the 2025 report's launch, press reporting named Mulonga WSC best utility for that year.
- The report grades leakage using the IWA Infrastructure Leakage Index and tracks network failures per 100 km of main — a metric worth watching, since a porous network loses water faster than any billing reform can recover it.
Per the discipline we apply to every regulator report we analyse: the utilities the report flags as needing urgent attention are identifiable in the original document, and we leave them there. Naming strong performers is recognition; naming the struggling ones from a distance helps nobody.
The 2023 numbers on one table
| Indicator | 2022 | 2023 | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| Non-revenue water (sector) | 56.7% | 57.0% | 7.23 million m³ more lost than the year before |
| Cost per service unit vs price | — | K12.61 vs K7.9 | The billed 43% is sold below cost — the second leak |
| Metering ratio | 75.5% | 79% | More meters, more losses — the Kenyan pattern |
| O&M cost coverage | — | all 11 utilities below 100% | No utility covers its operating cost from tariffs |
| Best-NRW award | — | vacant | "None of the CU is close to the benchmark" |
| Overall ranking | — | SWSC first | Named because it leads; the rest are prospects, not examples |
Three practical readings.
- NRW is the only lever that improves both leaks at once. Tariffs below cost are a policy question utilities cannot fix alone. But every cubic metre recovered from the 57% is produced water that starts earning — it attacks the volume loss and dilutes the unit-cost problem simultaneously. That is why NWASCO's own National NRW Management Strategy exists, and why zone measurement is where it has to start: you cannot reduce what you cannot locate.
- Measurement is also the credibility layer. With reported volumes partly estimated, the utility that can put continuous, instrument-backed numbers behind its returns stands out to the regulator, to lenders and to cooperating partners — the same parties the report thanks for carrying much of the sector's financing.
- Start with one zone, not a programme. Meter the inlets of the district you suspect most, watch minimum night flow for a few weeks, reconcile against billing in that zone. The result either justifies the next zone or proves the loss is elsewhere — and either answer beats a sector average. The approach is laid out in non-revenue water in Zambia, and the record has to survive load shedding, which is its own engineering problem — see water telemetry in Zambia.
Frequently asked questions
What is Zambia's non-revenue water rate?
In the most recent publicly downloadable NWASCO sector report (2023 edition, covering FY2023), sector-average non-revenue water was 57.0%, up from 56.7% the year before, with an additional 7.23 million cubic metres lost year on year. At the launch of the 2025 edition in April 2026, NRW was reported as still above 50% — that later figure comes from press coverage of the launch, as the newer editions are not yet published online.
What is the NWASCO sector report?
The annual performance report of Zambia's water regulator, the National Water Supply and Sanitation Council, covering the eleven commercial utilities against nine key performance indicators: water coverage, sanitation coverage, water quality, non-revenue water, hours of supply, staff efficiency, collection efficiency and O&M cost coverage. It ranks the utilities, recognises the best per indicator, and is one of the more candid regulator reports on the continent — candid enough to leave its own best-NRW award vacant.
Do Zambian water utilities cover their costs?
Not in the year the latest published edition covers. Average cost to provide services was K12.61 against an average price of K7.9; collection efficiency fell from 92% to 85%; O&M cost coverage at the 90% collection benchmark dropped from 81% to 75%; and all eleven CUs were below 100% cost coverage by collection. Coverage of costs therefore depends on government and cooperating-partner support, which the report itself acknowledges.
Zambia's metering ratio improved — why did losses still rise?
Because customer meters measure the customer end of the network, and most loss occurs upstream of them. The metering ratio rose from 75.5% to 79% while NRW rose from 56.7% to 57.0% — the same decoupling Kenya's WASREB data shows at 97% metering and 48% losses. Locating upstream loss takes zone measurement: metered district inlets, continuous night-flow monitoring, and reconciliation of zone input against zone billing.
Which Zambian utility performed best?
In the 2023 edition's overall ranking, Southern WSC reclaimed first place, followed by Eastern WSC and Chambeshi WSC. Kafubu WSC was recognised as most improved and Luapula WSC for best data submission. Press reporting of the 2025 edition's launch named Mulonga WSC that year's best commercial utility.
Where can I read the report itself?
NWASCO publishes sector reports on nwasco.org.zm under Media Centre → Publications. At the time of writing the newest downloadable edition is 2023; the 2024 and 2025 editions were launched in April 2025 and April 2026 respectively but had not yet been posted online. The primary-sources list below links the download page directly.
The report gives the percentage. A zone meter gives the address.
Tell an engineer your scheme layout and latest production and billing volumes. You'll get a first-zone proposal sized for the budget you actually have.