Enabled geographic information system technology toward non-revenue water reduction

In recent years, advances in information communications technology have proven their role in reducing water losses in water distribution systems. The geographic information system is a specialized set of Information Communication and Technology, which provides effective methods in the management of the water sector, in particular, non-revenue water. The Palestinian national strategic plan reported that reducing the non-revenue water from 38% to 35% will increase the revenue by US$40 million within 10 y. Similarly, the water sector regulatory council estimates that the non-revenue water rate is 33%. Surprisingly, water utilities have yet to implement extensive water loss management. Approximately 95% of the urban population in Khan Younis is served by a municipal water supply network. A high level of non-revenue water was recorded in Khan Younis in 2012 (about 40%). Many actions have been implemented to reduce the non-revenue water to 30% by 2020. This study aimed to quantify the non-revenue water of each water distribution zone and to classify the non-revenue water loss for distribution zone 20 (DZ20) per house connection. It was concluded that the adaptation of geographic information system made it possible to classify the highest loss rate of non-revenue water between 3% and 5% for DZ23. However, the distribution zone DZ20 showed a very high level of water loss (58.78%). The filed investigations illustrate that the developed map accuracy was presented as 83% accurate, whilst a strong positive correlation was revealed between non-revenue water and the age of the water meter and the number of populations occupying the house connection.