Water utilities are making various efforts to reduce water losses from water networks, and an essential part of them is to recognize the moment when a pipe burst occurs during operation quickly. Several physics-based methods and data-driven analysis are applied using real-time flow and pressure data measured through a SCADA system or smart meters, and methodologies based on machining learning are currently widely studied. Water utilities should apply various approaches together to increase pipe burst detection. The most intuitive and explainable water balance method and its procedure were presented in this study, and the applicability and detection performance were evaluated by applying this approach to water supply pipelines. Based on these results, water utilities can establish a mass balance-based pipe burst detection system, give a guideline for installing new flow meters, and set the detection parameters with expected performance. The performance of the water balance analysis method is affected by the water network operation conditions, the characteristics of the installed flow meter, and event data, so there is a limit to the general use of the results in all sites. Therefore, water utilities should accumulate experience by applying the water balance method in more fields.