Water leakage is a significant problem in the developing and developed world alike. When water is pumped into the system, being transported from a water treatment plant to your home, a percentage of it is lost due to cracked or corroded service pipes or aging distribution pipes. In the City of Lagos, Nigeria, a significant amount of the water pumped into the distribution system is lost to leaks, theft or non-payment. There are debates about how much water is lost, but ostensibly, it is as much as 85%. Other water supply systems face similar challenges particularly when it comes to leaks. When water systems leak, not only is water wasted and lost, but energy is wasted because it takes energy to move water in and around our cities.
Tokyo, by contrast, has one of the most efficient water systems in the world. Through efficient approaches of detecting and repairing leaks, the city has reduced the amount of water wasted in the past ten years from 150 million cubic meters of water to 68 million cubic meters of water.
From a technological perspective, Tokyo uses a computerized system that calculates and gathers whole information on leakages by computer such as the causes, details of each repair work, the cost for repairs. Such progress on water leak reduction can be seen as a climate change adaptation strategy. Climate change brings with it a number of uncertainties around water supply. In general, it is expected that as climate change unfolds, there will be more demand for water and hence more pressure on water infrastructure systems. With Tokyo's pro-active approach to water management such as repairing water leaks annually, their water infrastructure is already becoming more efficient and will be more resilient to climate change impacts in the future.
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