The 21st Century Water Utility Initiative is a powerful and innovative approach to help water utilities assess their current operational performance, identify improvement actions and track impact year after year. First success cases suggest that cost reductions range from 10 to 20% within 1–3 years, with improved customer satisfaction. This approach can help water utilities in three ways. First, its benchmarking module focusses on cost drivers at a granular level, not only at an asset level, but also by profit and loss line or activity. Second, it is coupled with onsite diagnostics to understand the causes of underperformance and identify improvement ideas. Third, its transformation programme makes operational changes stick through a combination of measures that address management infrastructure and mindsets and behaviour. In short, the Initiative helps utilities identify improvement potential, seize the prize, and translate it into a transformation programme to drive sustainable implementation. This highly structured, standardised approach addresses the needs of both small and large utilities.
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Research Article|
October 01 2013
The 21st Century Water Utility Initiative: how to boost operational performance of water utilities by up to 20%
G. Gage;
1McKinsey & Company, 1 Jermyn Street, London SW1Y 4UH, UK
E-mail: sustainability@mckinsey.com
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S. Helmcke;
S. Helmcke
2McKinsey & Company, Inc. Austria, Herrengasse 1–3, 1010 Wien, Austria
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O. Prigent
O. Prigent
3Leebierg 13B, 5359 Schuttrange, Luxembourg
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Water Sci Technol (2013) 68 (7): 1487–1494.
Article history
Received:
November 10 2012
Accepted:
February 19 2013
Citation
G. Gage, S. Helmcke, O. Prigent; The 21st Century Water Utility Initiative: how to boost operational performance of water utilities by up to 20%. Water Sci Technol 1 October 2013; 68 (7): 1487–1494. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2013.210
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