Interactive tool · budgets & assets
Most water networks were built for a service life of a few generations, but many are renewed so slowly that each pipe would have to last centuries. The gap stays invisible in a single year's budget, then shows up as bursts, leakage and emergency spending. Enter a few figures from your asset register to see it.
Why it matters
Austria's Court of Audit estimated that around 2% of the drinking-water network should be renewed each year to keep its value, while only about 0.3% actually was. In its 2025 statistics, EurEau, the European federation of water services, names infrastructure renewal as its members' top concern.
So what: ask for the renewal rate as a percentage of the network, not just the euros spent.
Postponing renewal frees money this year but moves the cost, usually with interest, to future bill-payers. The pipes keep ageing whether or not anyone votes on it.
So what: record each deferral in the decision log with a review date.
Old, fragile mains burst more often, and every burst adds to real losses. Pressure management can extend asset life, but it can't replace renewal.
So what: read the renewal gap alongside your leakage index and burst trend.
Under the OECD's "3Ts" framing, water services are paid for by tariffs, taxes and transfers. A renewal plan without a named source is a wish list.
So what: ask which of the three pays for renewal, and whether that revenue is ring-fenced.
Jackson, Mississippi, lost safe drinking water for more than 150,000 people in 2022, after years of underinvestment and a failed billing contract.
Read the Jackson case