A country where wastage and scarcity of water have percolated down to every level can have a lot to learn from a nation that has been largely successful in tackling the same problems. In a recent interaction, the Danish ambassador revealed that only about 4 per cent of the water pushed into the distribution system in Denmark remains unaccounted for. The statement only throws into sharper contrast the long road in water conservation that lies ahead for Indian cities. In Calcutta alone, nearly half of the water that is injected into the network is lost. Given that the Calcutta Municipal Corporation sends 488 million gallons of water into the city’s distribution system every day, the gravity of the loss cannot be overstated, especially since 250 million gallons of water are reported by experts to be enough to meet the needs of the city’s residents.