people lacked safely managed sanitation in 2024. Storm overflows, the new EU wastewater rules and a 16-point check.
Sanitation & wastewater →Free public-interest working aids · No cookies or trackers
Most water crises are governance crises first.
Free tools for boards, utility staff and civic groups to fix the parts engineering can't: who decides, how money flows, where water is lost and who gets served. From the tap to the drain: score your system on the 12 OECD principles, run a water balance, test the renewal gap and drought runway, check what your utility publishes, and learn from twelve real cases.
Why it matters
The governance gap, in four numbers
2.1 billion
people still lacked safely managed drinking water in 2024.
WHO/UNICEF JMP 2025
126 bn m³
of treated water lost or unbilled every year, worth about US$39 bn.
Liemberger & Wyatt 2019
US$75 bn+
a year potentially lost if 10% of water investment leaks to corruption.
Water Integrity Network 2016
Start from your role
Who are you, and what's coming up?
Pick your role for a short, ordered path through the tools, tailored to your next budget vote, tariff change, contract, drought or review.
Board member or councillor →Questions to ask, an agenda and a decision trail.
Utility manager or staff →Baselines from your own data before the board asks.
Regulator, auditor or funder →What should be published, and what's missing.
Civic group, journalist or resident →Tools that work from public documents, plus a ready-made information request.
A wider lens
Beyond leaks and tariffs
Governance failures also hide in ageing assets, wastewater and drought plans. New tools and evidence cover each.
of Austria's drinking-water network was renewed, against about 2% needed, per its Court of Audit. How long must your pipes last?
Renewal gap calculator →was Cape Town's "Day Zero" dam level, when most taps would have been turned off. How many days of supply do you have?
Drought runway calculator →that a board or resident should be able to find. Score what your utility publishes and request the rest.
Reporting scorecard →Grounded in public standards
Built on the frameworks regulators and funders use
Each tool turns a recognised framework into questions and numbers a board can act on. We explain the sources on the research page and show how they work in practice in the case studies.
Complete Public Toolkit
Sixteen working aids, ready to use in your browser or print
Every tool runs in your browser with no accounts or tracking. Use them on your own, in a finance briefing or in a public commission meeting, then gather every result into one briefing pack.
Interactive · 20 indicators New
Public reporting scorecard
Check what your utility publishes on service, losses, money, fairness, wastewater and integrity. Get a transparency score and an information request for the gaps.
Check transparency → Interactive · calculator NewPipe renewal gap
Renewal rate, how long pipes must last at today's pace, the kilometres and money needed each year, and the backlog.
Calculate the gap → Interactive · 3 scenarios NewDrought runway
Days of supply to a critical reservoir level, with a chart showing what restrictions and loss reduction buy you.
Estimate the runway → Topic + 16-point check NewSanitation & wastewater
Storm overflows, the recast EU wastewater directive's deadlines to 2045, and a check on treatment, money and access.
Review wastewater → Print · PDF · text NewBoard briefing pack
Every tool saves a short summary on your device. The pack gathers them into one printable packet for board papers.
Build the pack → Interactive · radar profileOECD 12-principle self-assessment
Rate effectiveness, efficiency, trust and engagement. Get a radar chart, dimension scores and three priorities for your next meeting.
Score your system → Interactive · with ILIWater balance, NRW & leakage index
Split system input into billed volume, real and apparent losses, see it as a chart, and compute the Infrastructure Leakage Index with its performance band.
Jump to calculator ↓ Interactive · tariff testHousehold affordability calculator
See a household's water and wastewater bill as a share of income against the 3% benchmark. Test tariff rises, fixed charges and lifeline blocks.
Test affordability → Interactive · 18 checksGovernance self-check
Review budgets, oversight, waste and fair allocation, with a live four-pillar gap summary saved in your browser.
Open self-check → Interactive · 16 warning signsProcurement red flags
Screen tendering, contract variations, commissioning handover and conflict-of-interest controls before signing off.
Open red flags → Evidence · 12 casesCase studies with board questions
Phnom Penh, Singapore, Cape Town, Paris, Flint, Jackson, England, the Dutch water boards, the Murray–Darling, Uganda, Denmark and Manila.
Read the cases → All 16 tools, grouped by taskBudget questions, agenda, decision log & more
The budget question set, quarterly oversight agenda, decision log, printable field guide and glossary.
Browse all tools →Interactive tool · IWA water-balance logic
Water balance & non-revenue water (NRW) estimator
Looking only at "percentage NRW" can mislead oversight boards when total demand shifts. Enter your own figures to separate real physical leakage (pipes and service connections) from apparent commercial losses (metering and billing gaps) and see an indicative yearly value at your own tariff. Results are rough estimates for discussion, not an audit. Nothing you type leaves this page.
Optional: Infrastructure Leakage Index (ILI)
Who this helps
Built for people who decide, oversee, or ask hard questions
Municipal, utility & water-board staff
Utility managers, finance officers, and asset planners who need structured prompts before budget, tariff, and capital cycles.
Oversight boards & audit committees
Commissioners, municipal councillors, and regional water-board members who want a repeatable quarterly agenda and a clear decision trail.
Civic & watershed groups
Residents, consumer advocates, and basin stakeholders who need concrete, technical questions and checklists — not slogans.
Questions or feedback on these water-governance tools?
Humanity Solutions welcomes constructive notes from utility practitioners, board members, and civic groups. Write to connectwithus@humanitysolutions.net.
Use the contact form