A modified linear programming gradient (LPG) method is presented for solving looped water distribution network problems, together with a mathematically rigorous derivation of the LPG model. The LPG method of Alperovits and Shamir is modified in terms of both search direction and step size. A quasi‐Newton search direction is proposed instead of the steepest descent direction, and the step size is determined by a backtracking line search method instead of a fixed step size. The modified method is applied to a numerical example, where it provides an improved solution in comparison to the original LPG method.