Intelligent Pressure Optimization for Sustainable Performance

How GWF BALANCE Turns Pressure Optimization Into Measurable Water, Energy and Cost Savings

Water utilities around the world are entering a decisive decade. Climate volatility is intensifying hydrological extremes, population growth is increasing urban demand, and infrastructure networks—many constructed more than half a century ago—are operating under growing mechanical and financial stress. According to the World Meteorological Organization's State of Global Water Resources 2023, published in 2024, global water variability has reached record levels, with significant regional imbalances between supply and demand. The United Nations World Water Development Report 2024 underscores that improving the efficiency of existing infrastructure is among the fastest and most cost-effective strategies for strengthening water security.

Yet even as water scarcity intensifies, vast volumes of treated drinking water never reach customers. Non-revenue water (NRW), defined as the difference between system input volume and billed authorized consumption, continues to represent one of the most significant structural inefficiencies in the global water sector. The World Bank estimates that NRW costs utilities worldwide approximately USD 39 billion annually in lost revenue. In many utilities, physical losses alone account for 20 to 50 percent of distributed water. These losses represent not only financial inefficiency but also wasted energy, avoidable greenhouse gas emissions, and unnecessary abstraction from stressed natural sources.

Scientific research over the past three decades has consistently demonstrated that distribution system pressure is one of the dominant variables influencing leakage. However, translating this knowledge into systematic operational improvement has remained challenging. Many utilities lack the granular data, calibrated system-specific models, and analytical infrastructure required to implement pressure optimization confidently and safely.

GWF BALANCE addresses this gap. Developed by GWF, a Swiss technology company with over 125 years of expertise in precision flow measurement and water network intelligence, BALANCE integrates high-precision flow measurement, distributed pressure monitoring, advanced hydraulic analytics, and AI-supported scenario modeling to transform leakage reduction into a structured, measurable, and economically optimized process. Rather than replacing infrastructure, it enhances the performance of existing assets. Deployments across Europe, the United Kingdom, South Africa, and the United States have demonstrated average leakage reductions of 35 percent—achieved within a matter of weeks rather than decades.