You just played Drip City. Now see the real-world problem you were playing.
2.1 Trillion Gallons
of treated drinking water are estimated to be lost every year through aging and leaking U.S. water infrastructure. That figure is national treated-water loss (physical leaks and other non-revenue water), not a city-by-city audit.
Nearly 5.8 billion gallons every day
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Drip City is the start of an ongoing conversation and movement around water infrastructure, not only a one-day Times Square moment.
See the loss
Every city measures and reports water loss differently, so each card carries the figure its own utility and public record support, with the source and year attached. Cards distinguish physical water loss (real leaks) from broader non-revenue water and from financial or uncaptured-revenue estimates. Where a comparable number has not been published, this page says so rather than inventing one.
Beta release · 7 locations · more cities added as figures are sourced and dated
New York City
VerifiedNon-revenue water (NRW), about 15% of system input, 2023. NRW includes physical leaks plus other categories such as apparent losses and authorized unbilled use.
ILLUSTRATIVE ESTIMATE (not a locally reported cost). Daily NRW volume valued at the national average rate of uncaptured utility revenue. This is a financial estimate from volume, not a utility invoice.
A separate leak in the Delaware Aqueduct is estimated at up to 35 million gallons a day.
Pathway: New York Harbor → Atlantic Ocean
Source: NYC Department of Environmental Protection
What can I do?
Pick a path that fits you. We will follow up from WaterRising.
Host or help bring the experience to your community.
Learn about roles in utilities, engineering, and water infrastructure.
Technology, engineering, or infrastructure that can help modernize systems.
Corporate, philanthropic, government, or community partnership.
How it works
Scan the code and the game opens on your own device. Fix the pipes, restore the flow, keep the water moving. Players rotate onto the main screen live, so when it is your turn, Times Square is watching your game.
Between levels, the real condition of the system you are playing for comes on screen. That is the part that stays with you after the game ends.
Where to find it
Duffy Square
The northern end of Times Square, between West 45th and West 47th Streets, Broadway and Seventh Avenue. Look for the red TKTS steps. The screens face south over the square.
Thursday, September 24, 2026. One hour, midday. Scan the code on the screen and play from where you are standing.
Times Square is the public launch. The conversation continues after that day, in other cities and through the work that follows.
Scan to open this page
Water lost. Value lost.
Physical water loss means real leaks and pipe bursts. Non-revenue water (NRW) is broader: it includes those real losses plus apparent losses (for example metering issues) and authorized unbilled use. Financial figures below estimate uncaptured utility revenue tied to that lost product. The water disappearing beneath our streets has already consumed energy, chemicals, labour and capital. The loss shows up twice: once in the ground, and again on the balance sheet that funds modernization.
$6.4 Billion
a year in uncaptured utility revenue across U.S. drinking water systems (a financial estimate, not a gallon count).
$17.5 Million
a day, the same uncaptured-revenue estimate measured against the clock.
Source: Bluefield Research, 2025
City cards above keep these labels clear: illustrative estimates stay illustrative; historical audits stay historical; and where a current figure is still being confirmed, the page says Data verification underway.
So how do we fix the drip?
Invest before it breaks.
We know how to modernize water infrastructure. The technology exists. The engineering exists. The capital exists. The work is connecting them.
Find the loss while it is still a leak, not a break.
Rehabilitate and replace the lines that have outlived their design.
Meter, monitor and model the network so decisions rest on data.
Treat and return water to productive use instead of discharging it.
Fund the work at the scale the systems actually require.
The scale of the opportunity
Estimated U.S. drinking water investment needs through 2050.
Public funding and water rates remain essential. Meeting the scale of modernization will take additional approaches to financing and investment, and a wider set of partners around the table.
This is not a utility failure. It is an ecosystem problem.
Source: American Water Works Association, 2026
One Water
Fixing the pipe does not stop at the city line. Treated drinking-water loss (leaks and other non-revenue water) leaves the distribution system as lost product. It is not the same pathway as wastewater or stormwater overflows that can carry pollution into connected rivers, lakes, bayous and coasts. An overflow in Atlanta can reach the Chattahoochee; wastewater overflows in Houston can reach bayous and, downstream, Galveston Bay and the Gulf. Every city card above matches its pathway to that geography.
Launch partners
Times Square makes the infrastructure visible. The WaterHouse Impact Studio during Climate Week turns that attention into working conversations with investors, utilities, technology providers and family offices. Launch partners fund the public moment and take part in what follows it.
Delivered with
Launch funding required
$150KDelivers the Times Square roadblock, the interactive build, the verified data behind it and the Climate Week programme that follows.
Premier launch recognition, WaterHouse Impact Studio leadership participation, post-launch storytelling, and a seat in planning the next activations.
Prominent launch recognition, WaterHouse Impact Studio participation, partner storytelling, and opportunities to contribute expertise.
Launch and partner recognition, post-launch updates, and participation in the broader Fix My Drip City partner network.
Corporate sponsorship levels are a starting point. Talk to us about partnership. We will preselect Corporate partner on the form.
Make the invisible visible
Drip City is the start of an ongoing conversation and movement, not only a one-day Times Square moment.
We can keep paying for failure.
Or invest in modernization.
An initiative of WaterRising Institute