SDG6 Champion of the Year
Aguas Nuevas
What is it?
Aguas Nuevas is a regional water and wastewater services operator in Chile, providing drinking water and sanitation services across six highly diverse and water stressed regions, from the Atacama Desert to Patagonia. Operating through multiple subsidiary utilities, it combines private sector operating discipline with long term public service obligations, serving more than two million people under regulated concession frameworks
What has it done?
Aguas Nuevas has made astounding progress to reduce NRW, with levels reduced on average from 45% to 30% across 60 cities. It did this by recognising NRW reduction is not only a technical challenge but a strategic one. The initiative illuminates historically invisible water networks and transformed more than 90% of its network to be monitored remotely. The programme has reduced water losses totally 15 million m3 between 2015 and 2025. Repair times reduced from 10 days to less than 1 day – reinstating customer trust through reliable service.
What makes it special?
- Aguas Nuevas proves that even in the face of extreme water stress – from the Atacama Desert to freezing conditions in southern Chile – strategic planning and stalwart programme delivery translates to operational excellence.
- This was not a pilot project but a full-scale organisational change that has protected its customers for years to come.
Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB)
What is it?
The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is the public utility responsible for water supply and sanitation in one of the world’s fastest growing metropolitan regions. Operating under intense urbanisation and climate pressure, BWSSB delivers essential services to more than 10 million people across Bengaluru and its expanding peri urban areas.
What has it done?
In 2025, BWSSB expanded 100% piped water coverage across 110 periurban villages. Over 1.7 additional million people gained reliable, affordable, and safe drinking water, ending dependence on unsafe borewells and costly tanker supplies. The monumental expansion of services under this scheme makes the utility an SDG6 pioneer; showing what happens when challenge is met with leadership and vision.
What makes it special?
- BWSSB manages water as a metropolitan system, not a set of projects. It’s services are equitable, affordable and inclusive.
- This level of service expansion shows the utility’s ability to be agile in the face of rapid urbanisation and do it with long-term financial resilience as the centre of its strategy.
IWK
What is it?
Indah Water Konsortium is the quiet force that keeps Malaysia healthy. As the national sanitation utility serving more than 30 million people, it meets its challenges with innovation and leadership, setting a global standard for sanitation management.
What has it done?
Indah Water has deployed solar energy across 16 sewage treatment plants through a performanceguaranteed PFI model. The programme delivers 6.3 MWp of capacity, generating 7,700 MWh each year to treat nearly 148 million cubic metres of wastewater. It secures reliable operations, avoids RM 41.8 million in grid costs, and cuts over 5 Gg of CO₂ annually.
What makes it special?
- Indah Water has embedded renewable energy and financial sustainability at the heart of wastewater treatment.
- Through a pioneering PFI model it secured reliable energy with no upfront public cost.
- The programme cuts emissions, stabilises operations, and proves that sanitation performance can be strengthened through smart finance, not subsidy.
SANASA
What is it?
SANASA is the municipally owned water and sanitation utility of Campinas, one of Brazil’s largest cities. It is responsible for drinking water supply and wastewater services for more than one million people, operating the full urban water cycle in a dense urban environment with high industrial demand.
What has it done?
SANASA has implemented an AIfuelled, outcomebased water loss programme aligned with corporate water goals through a longterm publicprivate partnership. Microsoft finances the ten-year engagement through a “Volumetric Water Benefits” mechanism aligned with its Net Water Positive ambition. Covering about 300 districtmetered areas and 53% of connections, the utility now detects leaks in real time. In its first year, 367,000 m³ were recovered, with 18 million m³ of water savings projected over ten years.
What makes it special?
- SANASA shows what is possible when utilities engage all stakeholders in a water system.
- This initiative represents a pioneering collaborative public-private partnership designed to enhance water security in a region facing water stress.
- Combining AI, collaboration and innovative financing mechanisms to deliver SDG6.
Sanepar
What is it?
Sanepar is the stateowned water and sanitation utility of Paraná, responsible for delivering drinking water and wastewater services to 10 million customers across the state. Operating under regulated public concessions, it manages the full water cycle from abstraction to treatment and reuse.
What has it done?
Sanepar has delivered a US$35 million waterenergyinnovation programme linking sanitation to reservoir protection and power security. Partnering with Itaipu Binacional and Itaipu ParqueTec, it built and upgraded six sewage collection and wastewater systems, expanded 230 km in sewer networks, and cut nutrient pollution in the Paraná basin by over 3,000 tonnes a year.
Protecting the water quality of the 29 billion m3 Itaipu reservoir directly safeguards the production of 10% of Brazil’s and 88% of Paraguay’s total energy output. Every dollar invested in the initiative yields an estimated return of over four dollars in socio-environmental results for the basin.
What makes it special?
- This initiative transcends traditional sanitation; it is a blueprint for the developing world on managing the “Water–Energy–Innovation Nexus” through cross-sector coordination.
- This integrated, mission-orientated approach represents a benchmark for SDG6 implementation.
- Uniting water, energy and resilient systems for the future.