Ghana Water Limited continues to struggle to bring down its high level of non-revenue water, despite recent improvements, the Executive Secretary of the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC), Dr Shafic Suleman, has said.

According to him, the utility company had in previous years failed to meet the regulator’s benchmark for reducing water losses, although recent interventions have resulted in some progress.

Dr Suleman made the remarks on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Wednesday, September 2, during a discussion on the topic, “Is Ghana’s water quality and access under threat?”

“Over the years, we’ve seen a not-too-good trend in terms of Ghana Water’s ability to actually improve on the benchmark,” he said.

He, however, acknowledged what he described as a “tremendous effort” by Ghana Water in recent months to reduce its non-revenue water rate.

The rate fell from 52.2 per cent in December 2024 to 51.6 per cent in December 2025, before declining further to 47.6 per cent by June 2026.

Despite the improvement, the figure remains above the 45 per cent benchmark set by the PURC under its Multi-Year Tariff Order.

The regulator expects Ghana Water to progressively reduce the rate to about 43 per cent, while working towards bringing it below 40 per cent.

Dr Suleman said the PURC was closely monitoring the company’s infrastructure investments and engaging its management on measures to accelerate the reduction in water losses.

Non-revenue water refers to treated water that does not generate revenue for the utility. It may result from physical leakages in the distribution network, illegal connections, theft, faulty meters and billing challenges.