Non-Revenue Water (NRW) Program in Kelowna, BC

Everything produced that doesn't end up billed: real losses (leakage from mains, services, appurtenances, reservoir overflow), apparent losses (meters under-registering, billing data gaps, unauthorised use), and unbilled authorised use (flushing, firefighting). The split matters enormously — real losses are fixed with detection and repair; apparent losses are fixed with meter and billing work; the fixes share no budget. The water balance exists to make that split before money gets spent on the wrong half.

Industry reporting consistently puts typical systems in that band, with well-managed networks below it and older, hillier, or long-neglected systems above. BC's mix — postwar AC pipe, mountain pressure zones that stress mains, and small systems with thin staffing — spans the whole range. Your own production and billing records, run through a proper balance, answer the question for your system in weeks; guessing is free and worth it.

Three stacked values: the marginal production cost of every cubic metre no longer leaked (treatment, pumping energy, chemicals); deferred capital where supply or treatment capacity is tight — recovered leakage is new capacity at a fraction of expansion cost; and resilience under drought restrictions, where every leaked litre is a litre your residents were told not to use. Programs are designed so located-leak recovery outruns program cost — that's the point of payback-ordered sequencing.

Kelowna ground is predominantly dry glaciolacustrine silts and sandy benches — classic Okanagan GPR country. Dry silts and sands give the deepest, cleanest GPR returns in BC — 3–4 m is routine. Irrigation saturation creates local wet anomalies that are themselves diagnostic of leaks. For leak work that cuts two ways: it shapes whether escaping water surfaces or vanishes, and it influences how leak noise carries to our sensors — both factored into how we run non-revenue water (nrw) program here, and into when we recommend pairing the aerial thermal screen with the ground crews.

Lakefront estates with pools and extensive irrigation, orchard and vineyard parcels, and a fast-rising downtown tower skyline. The water mains underneath broadly track that growth story — each construction era left its pipe materials behind, from early metallic stock through the postwar asbestos-cement years to modern PVC — and each material gets matched methods in our survey design.

Where the data quality requires it, yes — minimum-demand hours give the cleanest acoustic and flow readings, and noise loggers do their listening at 2–4 a.m. by design. Scheduling is coordinated with your operations staff, Mon–Sat, and active breaks get priority response. 604-239-9934.

Province-wide pricing — no regional premium for Kelowna or anywhere in the Okanagan. Surveys and programs are quoted by network size and scope; single investigations start in the high hundreds. The free phone consult produces a firm number in about five minutes.