Decreasing NRW -The NV SWM case The International Water Association (IWA) defines Non - Revenue Water as a part of the water balance constituting of: a) Unbilled authorized consumption b) Apparent losses c) Real losses Apparent and Real losses together form the Water losses and those are in the SWM case between 32% and 37%. Not strange in the SWM case knowing that within the network there are pipes older than 40 years of age. Then why we do not replace the old pipes and reduce the NRW drastically I hear you say? We wish it was that simple. And how will we decrease NRW then? What came out of different studies we did on NRW is that we need to have in place a long term NRW strategy. This is to help us tackle the NRW on a structural base instead on a ad hoc base. On ad hoc base we were able to decrease NRW but then you see that the figures increase again. There is no structural approach. NV SWM the actual situation The service area of the Suriname Water Company, the NV SWM is divided in three Regions namely: The Eastern region, The Western region and The Central Region.
Al the above mentioned regions are in the coastal area. If we take the NRW problem in these regions into consideration, they all have some common and also some specific problems. The Eastern region If we look at the Eastern Region we have the problem of the distribution network that was set up in the 1950 s by the mining company Suralco. The pipes are mostly of galvanic material. Because of the over age of the distribution network we have lots of leakages. The other problems with those pipes are the different diameters used in the distribution network by the Suralco, which is an American company. These diameters differ from the ones used by the SWM, due to the fact that we use the European standards for pipelines compared to the American standards used in the eastern region. The pressure in this region is relatively high, which leads to one of the problems of the relatively high NRW in this Region. Other problems we had in this Region were the illegal household connections and the connections without a water meter. By bringing the connections from an illegal to a legal status and putting water meters, the management was able to reduce the NRW from 45% to 21%. The western region In the West Region we have more Asbestos Cements Pipes. Within a project part of those pipes were replaced. At the same time the network was flushed. At the other part it was clear for the management that great part of NRW was because of the stand time of the water meters at the service connections. They had water meters standing there for more than 50 years. Replacing great part of those water meters with a stand time greater than 10 years, made that the NRW was reduced from 38% to 26%. The next step was replacing water meters older than 8 years. The NRW is now 18% The Central region In the Central Region were we have 85% of the service connections of the NV SWM reducing NRW is not as easy as in the other two Regions. This is also due to the size of the Region. A problem mentioning is that we are in a transitory phase of taking over services areas of the Ministry of Natural Resources (the Department of Water Services). The progress we make in this Region concerning NRW is easily reduced when we take service areas over from the Ministry of Natural Resources, because the services areas of the Ministry of natural Resources are in very bad shape. There are no water meters
at the connections, the service connections are cut off by the customers because of the low pressure and also the customers do not pay for the service. This Region has a lot of asbestos cement pipes in the distribution network. The pipes are over aged. We still have pipes from 1933 (steel pipes). We have theft of water, illegal connections, connections without a water meter, old water meters etc. Now we are in the process of installing water meters at the connections without a water meter and the connections with unreadable water meters. The method of procedure for the strategic plan For some years our company is struggling with a NRW between 42% and 45%. With a net production capacity of 4,800 m3 per hour (numbers from 2013) in the Central Region, this represents a loss of revenues from 48,384 m3 up to 51,840 m3 per day. The average price for 1 m3 = USD 0.57. Serious enough for the Management to take the NRW subject very serious when also having in mind that the water tariffs are dated from February, 2004. Within two separate projects we are working to regulate the NRW. EU project WSIR project The EU project In a capacity strengthening project co-funded by the European Union, we are working towards the soft part of tackling NRW. We are working on the structures within the company to guarantee that NRW will decrease and stay low. Besides working on the procedures in this project we also identified the things that we can do which will have a great affect. We call those the low hanging fruits. Here we can name unreadable water meters, connections without a water meter, leakages and illegal consumption. Also within this project we decided to bring NRW under a sub-process within the Quality Management System of our company. The Quality Management System of our company is ISO 9001-2008 certified. The WSIR project In a Water Supply Infrastructure Rehabilitation Project funded by the IADB, we are working on a Strategy and at the same time in the field to decrease the NRW figures. In this project we have a consultant firm in place who is working with us on the NRW strategy for the future. At the same time we are working towards District Meter Areas.
Within 10 years we want to have a maximum NRW of 25%. Our objective is to decrease NRW in such a way that it becomes a structural part of our internal processes and not only an ad hoc activity of our Operations, were we decrease NRW once-only and it start increasing again. The 10-year strategic management plan for reduction of non-revenue water is being compiled in close cooperation with SWM Management and staff, so to ensure full commitment and ownership. This plan involves interactions from the WSIR project Management with the SWM Management, reviews and comment moments with the SWM management and finally the 10-year strategic management plan for reduction of non-revenue water. For the production of this strategic plan it is important that the input of all personnel levels is received. But due to the strategic element of the document high level engagement with the senior management of SWM must take place in order to foster a sense of ownership of the strategy. In this regard, institutional assessment and strategic direction, overall water company performance measurement and the establishment of viable and practical targets needs to be embraced by senior management and clearly included in the Strategy document. Similarly, proposals for funding models (from internal or external sources), and the possible impact on sales tariff needs to be discussed at the highest levels. Context In terms of the overall context of the NRW Strategy, it emphasized that this fits into the overall objectives of improving both the financial and operational efficiency of SWM. In parallel to this Strategy, there is a number of either separately or inclusively funded projects that need to work together towards achieving these common objectives. The summarized framework of the different initiatives has been presented in Table 1. Initiative/Component Objective: Financial Efficiency Objective: Operational Efficiency Non-Revenue Water Strategy (1) Energy Efficiency (3) Hydraulic Model (1) DMA Monitoring (1) Asset Management (4) Short-Term Action Plan (1) Revenue Protection Plan (1) Infrastructure Improvements (2) Information Management (1) Capacity Building and Training (4) Table 1: SWM Organizational Improvement Objectives and Framework of Key Initiatives
Predictive Model As part of the NRW Reduction Strategy, a predictive model has been prepared that establishes the baseline for SWM in terms of the water balance, and which can be used to forecast different demand and intervention scenarios, targets and budget requirements. This model set up has been largely completed, but requires the following information in order to ensure maximum accuracy and effectiveness: i) Agreement on costs of interventions (for real loss reduction, apparent loss reduction and billed volume improvement) ii) Agreement on predictive model settings and applicability to SWM conditions iii) System attrition factors/natural rate of rise of leakage iv) Meter accuracy recovery factors v) Potential or indicative available intervention budgets (capital and operating) for the next three years that could be used for strategy purposes SWM Water Company High Level Assessment and Scorecard The NRW Reduction Strategy for SWM needs to be prepared against a baseline established on international best practice, and which requires the input of the water company s senior/top management. The use of a high level assessment and scorecard has therefore been developed that ascertains the company s perspective on a number of difference key areas of operation. The following key focus areas have been addressed: Benchmarking Policies Infrastructure Information management Institutional Finance Consumer awareness Intervention programs The high level assessment has been prepared in the format of a log frame, with Objectively Verifiable Indicators (OVI s) and Means of Verification (MoV). The template for this assessment has been attached as annex A hereto and needs to be completed by senior/top management, either with or without the assistance of the Consultant. The tool has been designed to elicit objective responses from the organization that would help in the determination of shortcomings in the organization with respect to NRW, and to identify possible improvements that could be included in the Strategy.
SWM Water Company Impact, Influence and Dependency Model Every successful NRW reduction program that has ever been carried out internationally relies not so much on technology and individual skills, but on the ability of the entire organization to identify NRW as a key water company responsibility and the ability of all departments to work together, as a team, towards a common objective. This can be modeled by means of an Impact, Influence and Dependency model, which will be included in the NRW Strategy. "Impact" refers to the impact of other areas of operation/activity on NRW targets/activities. "Influence" refers to what influence NRW has on other areas of operation/activity. "Dependency" refers to the reliance of NRW activities on external role players to achieve NRW targets. In order to complete this institutional assessment, it has been necessary to identify all the SWM departments/stakeholders that could have any interaction or engagement with the NRW reduction program. This has been done in annex B hereto and the scoring in terms of the 5 point scale will need to be completed by SWM, either with or without the assistance of the Consultant. Request for High Level Engagement In order to properly and accurately complete the NRW Reduction Strategy, it is requested that one, or possibly two, meetings or workshops be held between the senior management of SWM and the WSIR project team in order to discuss and agree the feedback of SWM on the outstanding issues raised. This is imperative to ensure not just confidence in the Strategy, but also to promote a sense of ownership. The meetings/workshops can also be used to guide the management in completing the high level assessments and models. The topics that need to be discussed are as follows:. Agreement on the project baseline in so far as the water balance is concerned Agreement on whether or not outstanding project information will be received and whether or not it should be included in the Strategy Discuss and agree the settings for the predictive model for NRW reduction Discuss and agree the key performance measures (KPIs) and targets for the program Agreement on the high level assessment score card Agreement on the Impact, Influence and Dependency model.
The costs of reducing NRW The figures from the Masterplan 2011-2024 shows us that to decrease NRW we will need to invest $ 74 million. Within this value the replacement of the AC pipes 100 mm and 150 mm is in included. Money we do not have. See the necessity to have a strategic plan to decrease NRW structural and spread over a long period.
Authors: Ricardo F. Gessel r.gessel@swm.sr / rickges@yahoo.com Phone: (00597) 402390 / 8502169 Manager of the Department of Planning & Research of the NV SWM Part-time lecturer at the Anton de Kom University of Suriname Part-time lecturer at the Accountancy firm Tjon A Hung Studies: Business Administration and Financial Administration Hobbies: football (low level now) Mickey F. Pocornie m.pocornie@swm.sr / mickeypocornie@gmail.com Phone: (00597) 402390 / 8510098 / 8576207 Work position: Manager of the Central region Additional job: lecturer in Chemical technology, Physiology, Environmental science and Chemistry Studies: Master degree in Biology, Bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Bachelor degree in Chemistry Hobbies: I am a sport fanatic and also like watching NBA games and some other sports.