Times Square · Thursday, September 24, 2026 · 13 days out

America is leaking.
Can you see it?

You played the game. Now see what is happening beneath our cities.

A first look Times Square · Duffy Square · live September 24

2.1 Trillion Gallons

of treated drinking water are estimated to be lost every year through aging and leaking U.S. water infrastructure.

Nearly 5.8 billion gallons every day

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Lost while you have been on this page 0 gallons of treated drinking water, at the national rate above.
Explore the map Get involved

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.

QR code that opens fixmydripcity.com Scan to open this page
Play→Scan→See the loss→Understand the value→Get involved
A player holding a phone running Drip City, the same pipe grid playing out on the screen behind them

How it works

Your phone is the controller.
The screen above you is the board.

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.

See the loss

Tap a city. See what is running out beneath it.

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. Where a comparable number has not been published, this page says so rather than estimating one.

Beta release · 7 locations · more cities added as figures are sourced and dated

New York City

Verified
Water lost every day 155 million gallons

Non-revenue water, about 15% of system input, 2023.

Value lost $472,000 per day

Estimate. Daily volume valued at the national average rate of uncaptured utility revenue.

Aging infrastructure 7,000 miles of mains

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

Water lost. Value lost.

Every lost gallon was already sourced, treated, pumped and moved.

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.

$17.5 Million

a day, the same loss measured against the clock.

19.5%of treated drinking water is non-revenue water.
87%of reported loss is real loss: leaks and pipe bursts.

Source: Bluefield Research, 2025

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.

Detect the leak

Find the loss while it is still a leak, not a break.

Replace the pipe

Rehabilitate and replace the lines that have outlived their design.

Digitize the system

Meter, monitor and model the network so decisions rest on data.

Reuse the water

Treat and return water to productive use instead of discharging it.

Invest in modernization

Fund the work at the scale the systems actually require.

The scale of the opportunity

$2.1–$2.4 Trillion

Estimated U.S. drinking water investment needs through 2050.

UtilitiesGovernmentTechnologyCommunitiesCapital

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

City→River→Watershed→Ocean

Healthy oceans begin upstream.

Fixing the pipe does not stop at the city line. Drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure all connect to the same rivers, lakes, watersheds and coastlines. A leak in Houston reaches the Gulf of Mexico. An overflow in Atlanta reaches the Chattahoochee. Every city card above carries the path its water actually takes.

What can I do?

You found the drip. Now help us fix it.

I live here

Bring Fix My Drip City to my community.

I work in water

Help identify infrastructure ready for modernization.

I have a solution

Technology, engineering, infrastructure.

I invest

Explore opportunities to finance water modernization.

I want to partner

Corporate, philanthropic, government, community.

Count me in

Add a note or your details
Support the launch

Goes straight to WaterRising. No list, no sharing. Privacy

Launch partners

Times Square. Wall Street. Water Street.

Times Square makes the infrastructure visible. The WaterHouse Impact Salon 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

WaterRising InstituteConvener · 501(c)(3)
OUTFRONT StudiosTimes Square media
VoltaInteractive experience
Sciens WaterStrategic partner
Climate Week NYCUN General Assembly

Launch funding required

$150KDelivers the Times Square roadblock, the interactive build, the verified data behind it and the Climate Week programme that follows.

$50,000 match secured$150,000 goal
A $50,000 matching grant is in place for this launch. Every contribution made now is doubled until the match is met.
Download the partner brief (PDF)
$50K

Founding launch partner

Premier launch recognition, Impact Salon leadership participation, post-launch storytelling, and a seat in planning the next activations.

Commit
$25K

Lead partner

Prominent launch recognition, Impact Salon participation, partner storytelling, and opportunities to contribute expertise.

Commit
$10K

Supporting partner

Launch and partner recognition, post-launch updates, and participation in the broader Fix My Drip City partner network.

Commit

Make the invisible visible

Make water visible.
Make water investable.

2.1 trilliongallons of treated water lost each year.
$6.4 billiona year in uncaptured utility revenue.
$2.1–2.4 trillionin infrastructure need through 2050.

We can keep paying for failure.
Or invest in modernization.

Get involved See your city

An initiative of WaterRising Institute