Nearly half the water produced by the Birmingham Water Works Board goes unaccounted in its system at a rate much higher than the national average.

Leaks from ruptured and antiquated water pipes are to blame for much of the water loss, staff members explained during their first work session with the new regional water works board.

The state’s largest utility has a 48.5 percent ‘non-revenue water’ rate or water that is either lost or unaccounted for within its system, explained Patrick Flannelly, a senior vice president at ARCADIS North America, a longtime water works engineering consultant.

“It’s just massive,” he said. “The reality is there’s no quick fix.”

Flannelly said that 500 miles of pipe needs to be replaced to reduce the non-revenue water rate. Such a project would cost $750 million, Flannelly said.

Flannelly estimated that actual water loss might be closer to 40 percent after factoring out known activity such as the utility flushing out the system.

Cutting the loss rate to about 20 percent would save the utility $4.3 million a year. However, Flannelly said that savings is not enough to pay for the project.

Already, the water works plans to spend $130 million for pipe replacement in the next five years.

Several factors could account for missing water including leaking pipes, leaking storage tanks, and water being used but not properly billed.

Several board members asked for details regarding pipe replacement and whether the utility should expedite the process.

General Manager Mac Underwood said issues of pipe replacement all revolve around money and the board’s budget priorities.

Meanwhile, senior employees are being challenged to examine ideas to reduce loss water within their divisions.

“There’s a taskforce in place,” Flannelly said. “This taskforce is hitting it from multiple angles.”

While portions of the system are plagued with leaks, Flannelly said the water loss has not affected operations.

“The leaks are pressurized,” explained. “They do not compromise the integrity of our system.”

Water loss at the utility is a longstanding challenge.

The water works in 2011 experienced a surge in lost water jumping from 12.6 percent of its water that couldn’t be accounted for in late 2009 to 22 percent by the end of 2010.

The system implemented a program in 2007 that lowered its losses from 28 percent to 17 percent within seven months.

The work session Monday evening included presentations from each senior department head. The seven board members left with three-ring binders, handouts and booklets.

“We don’t expect you to get all of this in one setting,” Underwood told board members. “Again, this isn’t all of it.”

The regional board was created in the last legislative session with a law that set up a seven-member board where Birmingham has two seats with the rest reserved for members in surrounding communities in Jefferson, Shelby, Blount and St. Clair Counties.

The new configuration which ends Birmingham’s dominance and places it in a minority among decision makers, is being challenged in court by Mayor Randall Woodfin and the city council.