Water losses are a major problem for water utilities, as they affect the environmental and financial sustainability of
urban water services. The aim of this paper is to identify the factors related to water losses in Mexican urban water
utilities by means of regression analysis including variables related to operation costs, staff, water prices, consumption,
climate, as well as demographic and socio-economic aspects of 73 urban localities. Results show that water
losses are negatively and significantly associated to production costs, per capita consumption, persons per connection,
and population. Water losses are positively and significantly associated to the number of staff per customer in
a utility. Results are not conclusive on the effect of private management on water losses