Serbian & Croatian Case Study: Mentoring

Contribution of Jurica Kovač.

16.1 Overview leakage situation context in the region

The Western Balkan region (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Monte Negro, Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo) has around 500 water distribution systems serving some 20 million people. All utilities are public and under the control of national regulators. Individual distribution systems of separate municipalities and towns are relatively small, other than the capital cities. For example, Croatia has some 150 utilities supplying water to 4,3 million people, 20% of whom live in the capital city of Zagreb, and similar situations occur in the other countries.

The economic downturn in the 1990s due to numerous reasons (political, social and economic) had a negative impact on water infrastructure condition and leakage due to war damages, lack of preventive maintenance, limited or zero investments in rehabilitation, low revenue due to low water tariff, slow economic recovery, etc. Water resources availability and capacity are generally adequate, so leakage is not usually considered an issue of high importance by managements and workforce with little experience of modern water loss management.

Table 55 broadly summarises the current overall situation in the Region.

Implemented measure on leakage assessment and reduction Yes No

Reliable Bulk Supply Metering 

Reliable Customer Metering 

Good System Design and Installation 

Effective Management of Excess Pressure and Pressure Transients 

Speed and quality of repairs 

Active Leakage Control at an economic frequency 

Sectorisation and/or District Metering Area formation 

Asset Renewal: service connections 

Asset Renewal: mains 

Leakage Indicators used when mentoring Value

Litres/connection per day, to track progress in individual systems 71 to 1.387 Unavoidable Annual Real Losses UARL, litres/conn/day/day 20 to 189 ILI , for technical performance grading and comparisons 0,9 to 19,4

Average pressure (metres) 17 to 65

Price of water, produced or purchased (Euro/m3) 0,03 to 0,70 Table 55 – Implemented leakage reduction measure(s) in 34 water Utilities.

16.2 Details proven mentoring approach in leakage reduction

A mentoring approach was developed to bridge the gap due to lack of national/regional education practice. The latest interesting development (2013) is a dedicated German/Croatian Training and Competence Centre for water utilities with various courses, including Water Loss topics based on IWA best practice methodology.

References

Kovač, J. and B. Charalambous (April 2012): Coaching: an emerging need in Water Loss Management. IWA Publishing Water 21 magazine.

Kovač, J. (September 2012): Changes in Water Loss Management in Western Balkan Region, IWA YWP Conference, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Summary of activities and results

Mentoring activities have been implemented over the last 15 years with various results depending on duration and specific circumstances. The collected data in this Case Study, based on conducted analyses of 34 water utilities in the West Balkan region, are presented in the following Table 56.

Number of utilities with ILI in the range: <2 2 to <4 4 to <8 8 or more High income countries (Croatia, Slovenia) 4 5 8 6 Low-middle income countries (Serbia, Bosnia H.) 0 0 4 7 Table 56 – Collected data of 34 water Utilities.

The main topics of interest in the mentoring approach for utilities regarding water loss management were: skills in use of leak detection equipment, free software for PIs calculation in local language, pressure management, DMAs, accurate and frequent flow and pressure measurements, understanding of networks and apparent losses.

It is important to emphasise the benefits of pressure reduction and control. The best ranking utilities with lowest leakage are using pressure management to a large extent.

In contrast, all utilities with high leakage are without pressure management (or developed in very limited scope). Mentoring practice showed that fast, reliable and long term solutions in water leakage reduction are possible only if we take into consideration reduction of pressure (and reduction in pressure transients).

Temporary DMAs are also worth mentioning. In most cases implementation of zones into the system, with high costs for building measuring chambers, creates funding problems. As leakage control is more efficient with zones, a less costly but beneficial approach involves occasional but regular measurements of flow and pressure in individual zones, with leak detection based on rate of rise approach. Also monitoring leakage and bursts data in zones allows better understanding of burst frequencies.

Importance of mentoring to create conditions for change

Advanced water loss management activities require technical understanding and a wide perspective. Current key players in the water sector (water utilities, regulators, private companies, education institutions) lack these requirements for various reasons; different agendas, capacities, motivation, time availability, funding, competition, etc. This fragmentation of capacities produces random circumstances regarding efficient water loss control and savings. In most cases we are faced with one of two problems; funding is not available, or excessive costs with limited results.

In light of rising capacities of employees (competencies, skills, responsibilities) and through this change leading toward water loss reduction and increased system efficiency, mentoring of water utilities has proved a positive option in the West Balkan region. In situations with limited funding and a complex environment (political, social, economic, natural, etc.) people in water utilities are the key factor for success.

Figure 32 – Empowering people in water utilities via training and education.

Mentors who have expertise in water loss management and also other fields of activities (management, pedagogy, human behaviour, etc.) have a unique position to set things in motion by cooperating with all key market players with appropriate approaches and few limitations.

The two most important aspects of mentoring are sharing knowledge, and assisting in development and implementation of specific standardised water policies that produces clear industry targets, reduction of water losses and economic efficiency in water distribution systems.

Figure 33 – Promotion of knowledge and solutions – in the field and at the office.

Approach used in mentoring and promoting advanced water loss management

Creating change in approach and understanding about water leakage and losses requires a wide scope of activities; a selection is presented in the following list:

 Knowledge sharing and promotion (presentations, workshops, conferences, magazine articles) based on IWA methodology and in local language.

 Training and coaching (water utilities) with understanding of human behaviour.

 Projects implementation, testing and results evaluation (assistance to assure successful outcomes, building experience and confidence among utility staff).

 Staff motivation (in context of limited salaries, benefits) and seeking approval and recognition from managers and utility board members.

 Promotion of good examples and people responsible from water utilities (case studies papers, participation on conferences, experts community recognition).

 Influencing and assisting regulators (legislation, performance indicators, norms, standards, procedures).

 Cooperating with educational institutions - universities (promoting market importance, challenges, and opportunities for new generations).

 Developing an expert community (events, competition, awards, cooperation, innovation) as foundation for continuous and prosperous future.

Figure 34 is an example of how mentoring approach works in a water utility.

Figure 34 – Example of how mentoring approach works in a water Utility.

Results (or proof) mentoring works – examples

Table 57 shows progress in leakage reduction in five small water utilities. Using the recommended PIs for tracking progress (per connection or per km), leakage has been reduced by between 8% and 25%, after 1 to 3 years of mentoring.

Start of mentoring Results

Year

NRW CARL

Year

NRW CARL

Mm³ Mm³ l/conn/d Mm³ Mm³ l/conn/d

Utility 1 2010 1,7 1,5 446 2012 1,8 1,5 390

Utility 2 2010 2,1 2,0 338 2013 2,1 1,9 312

Utility 3 2011 1,7 1,6 966 2013 1,4 1,3 726

Utility 4 2012 4,1 3,6 5,1* 2013 3,5 3,1 4,3*

Utility 5 2012 60,8 51,4 1.499 2013 57,0 48,1 1.387

* CARL indicator in m³/km/day (connection density below 20/km)

Table 57 – Progress in leakage reduction in five small Utilities after 1 to 3 years of mentoring.

Implementation guidance in building change influenced by mentoring 1^st step: Promotion of knowledge and solutions.

2^nd step: Empowering people in water utilities via training and education.

3^rd step: Educating managers in water utilities.

4^th step: Developing strategies and plans for water leakage control and reduction.

5^th step: Educating utility board members and regulators.

6^th step: Educating private sector (designers, service and equipment providers).

7^th step: Establishing business community based on knowledge exchange.

8^th step: Monitoring progress and sharing experience.