The training course gives an overview of Non-Revenue Water (NRW), which is a major utility performance gap and the main reason for very high water losses in urban water supply systems. The course will enhance the capacity of decision makers and senior managers in the water sector to understand NRW concepts in order to make the most efficient, effective and equitable use of investments in water supply.
The course draws on material from the IWA «Water Loss Task Force» with IWA concepts and standards being promoted as best practices.
The course has two interactive Modules with a total of 7 Lessons. It is a web-based intensive course with asynchronous work, offline reading material (library), online forum and online-moderated expert live-chats. The flexibility allows individuals to select how long and when they intend to spend learning within the course period.
The course has a strong collaborative component: Discussions with the course tutors and with other fellow participants at regular chats or individual communication have the same importance as the learning content itself!
Regional tutors guide participants through the course, thus promoting the South-South learning exchange.
What are the goal of this course?
The course discusses water losses at global and local scale, IWRM (Integrated Water Resource Management), water loss challenges, the water balance, developing a NRW strategy and raising awareness on the strategy.
Participants will understand NRW concepts in order to make the most efficient, effective and equitable use of investments in water supply.
Module 1 sets the scene and stresses the importance of managing Non-Revenue Water. It wants to motivate participants to learn more about it and finally to get committed to do their part in order to reduce it.
After having read module 2, actors in the sector will have realised that there is no way to reduce NRW by themselves. There are roles and responsibilities for each type of stakeholder in implementing a NRW reduction strategy. Outreach programs will help build awareness and consensus regarding the importance of reduction activities and the benefits of reducing NRW.
At the end of the basic course, participants will have a good overview of what managing NRW is all about and what it entails in the utilities.
Module 3 & 4 are a separate and advanced e-learning course, addressing especially practitioners responsible for the management of NRW. They will guide the understanding of the different losses and how they can be calculated, measured or otherwise determined and what indicators there are to monitor them.
The Table of Content is available here: