Praia, Cape Verde's capital, loses about 60% of its water, utility Águas de Santiago (AdS) said after dismantling about 70 illegal connections to its network in September and October, according to Expresso das Ilhas and A Nação. The utility gave no figures for the volumes or revenue lost.
Analysis: A loss rate of about 60% means only about four of every ten cubic meters produced reach paying customers, by our calculation. A study presented to regulator ARME in 2019 had already found losses above 60% in Praia's Achada Santo António district. Lost water still has to be produced and paid for. In September 2025 the government approved more than 967mn CVE (€8.8mn) to cover the water sector's tariff deficit from 2019 to 2025. The $100mn JICA-financed project is set to add 15,000 cubic meters a day of desalination capacity. However, published details do not say how much of it targets network losses. AdS has published no loss-reduction target or date for one.
Source: Expresso das Ilhas, Expresso das Ilhas, November 5, 2026, citing utility Águas de Santiago (AdS), November 2026 (as stated); A Nação (weekly), A Nação, November 6, 2026, citing AdS, September-October 2026; Agência Reguladora Multissetorial da Economia, ARME news item, September 27, 2019, on the AdS water-loss study, September 2018-May 2019; Expresso das Ilhas, Expresso das Ilhas, September 26, 2025, on resolution 96/2025, 2019-2025; Balai, Balai, March 9, 2026, Announced March 2026 and Planned