A water audit quantifies every cubic metre entering a facility's supply system and accounts for where it goes — metered consumption, authorised unmetered use, apparent losses (metering error, theft), and real losses (leakage). The International Water Association's standard water balance format is the reference methodology most lenders and ESG auditors now expect.
Most facility operators can tell you what they pay for water. Far fewer can tell you how much of that water is actually delivering value versus disappearing through an aging pipe network or an unmetered process line. That gap between the bill and the reality is exactly what a properly scoped audit is designed to close — and closing it is increasingly a precondition for the ESG-linked financing terms many operators are now seeking.
Non-revenue water — the portion of supplied water that generates no return, through either physical loss or unbilled use — is the single figure ESG auditors and lenders ask about first, because it is the clearest indicator of operational water stewardship.
"You cannot manage what you have not measured — and most facilities have never measured where their water actually goes."— HYDRisk Engineering Team
Need a water audit for ESG reporting?
We deliver IWA-standard water balance audits with sector benchmarking as standard.
HYDRisk delivers water audits and flood risk assessments across the US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.