Low-Cost Fixes for Big Impact: Reducing Non-Revenue Water in Masvingo, Zimbabwe

How can water utilities reduce water losses when resources are limited?

When a utility loses nearly half of the water it produces, every drop that goes unbilled is revenue a city can’t reinvest in its services. For the City of Masvingo, Zimbabwe, the turning point came when water losses were reported to decision-makers in dollars instead of percentages. That reframing turned non-revenue water from a technical figure into an urgent priority. With no external funding or loans, the city’s finance and engineering teams joined forces and brought non-revenue water down from 57% in January to 36% by the end of July 2026. That progress contributed to Masvingo’s mayor being named first runner-up among Zimbabwe’s 91 local authorities in the national awards for performance excellence in service delivery.

Watch the recorded webinar with our presenter, a practitioner who works on this challenge every day, as he walks through the practical, low-cost measures behind these results. These include replacing non-functional meters with help from residents themselves, establishing district metered areas, implementing pressure management, using solar-powered reservoir monitoring, and turning residents into partners who submit their own meter readings and report burst pipes and meter tampering. He also shares hard-won lessons from Masvingo on meter reading, billing, and meter replacement; the gaps the utility is still working to close; and practical recommendations other utilities can start applying today without a large budget.

Host

Barika Poole, OLS Manager & Facilitator – ROCKBlue

Barika is the founder and president of BRP Consulting, Inc., an engineering consulting services firm specializing in water resources management, supply design, technical analysis and training. From 2020 to 2021, she served as executive director of SPOUTS, a Uganda-based NGO that provides access to safe, clean drinking water through ceramic water filter technology. For 12 years, she was a water resources project manager with CDM Smith, a leading global engineering and construction consulting firm. A professional engineer with nearly 20 years of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) experience, she has worked with municipalities, government agencies and private sector clients.

Presenter

Isau Nyengera, Senior Credit Controller – City of Masvingo, Zimbabwe

Isau is the Senior Credit Controller in the Finance Department of the City of Masvingo, a city of about 110,000 residents in southern Zimbabwe. He has 20 years of municipal experience, including 10 years in auditing and 10 years in revenue management, and brings a finance perspective to a challenge often seen as purely operational. Non-revenue water reduction traditionally sat with the city’s engineers, but Isau saw its direct impact on the municipality’s finances. He championed a joint approach that brought finance and engineering to the same table. He oversees revenue collection efficiency and plays a hands-on role in Masvingo’s meter-reading reforms, including receiving readings submitted directly by residents. Isau has worked closely with ROCKBlue since 2019, taking part in its monthly calls and quarterly peer exchanges with other utilities. He holds a Master of Commerce in Professional Accounting and Corporate Governance, a Special Honours Degree in Accounting, and a Higher Diploma in Accounting.