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UN Sustainable Development Goal
Water, sanitation, resource management and resilient services.
StoneComms uses the UN Sustainable Development Goals as an editorial classification framework. Relevance does not imply UN affiliation, endorsement or measured impact.
← Browse all researchAfrica's urban water challenge is often described as a shortage of dams, treatment works and capital. Those constraints are real. But water already produced is also disappearing through leaking pipes, inaccurate meters, illegal connections and weak billing before it can sustain either households or utilities. Kenya's regulator reports that non-revenue water rose to 48 per cent in 2024/25; a 2026 World Bank programme found losses above 45 per cent among all 18 participating Southern African utilities. This paper asks when loss reduction becomes more than a technical repair programme: when can it become the operating platform for reliable service, fairer access and credible long-term finance?
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