VEI and Dawaco: Water Operators’ Partnership Case Study

UN-Habitat, 2018

Summarized results of the partnership between Vietnamese water utility, Da Nang Water Supply Company (Dawaco), and Dutch company, VEI, between 2007 and 2010, including: timeline, cost, approach, improvement tracks, challenges, success factors and quotes, as well as general data and motivation from both the mentor, mentee, and supporting third parties. Targeted improvements: Non-Revenue Water and Water Loss | Operation and Maintenance | Integrated Urban Water Resource Management | Water Supply | Tariffs | Customer Relations | Asset Management | Financial Management | Service to the Poor

International Journal of Water Resources Development

This work analyzes the main outcomes and success factors of the water operators' partnership (WOP) between the Dutch water operators' organization, VEI (formerly Vitens Evides International), and the Vietnamese water utility, Da Nang Water Supply Joint Stock Company (Dawaco), which took place from 2007 to 2010. The partnership is considered within broader international and regional funding programmes, including parallel national and regional WOPs. The article presents WOPs as key processes in larger operations of water infrastructure development and considers WOPs as relevant strategies that contribute to the improvement of urban water services at a global scale.

2018

Ever since Dow started its Terneuzen operations during the mid-60s, water management has been essential for the company because of a lack of freshwater in the region. Dow's policy is to constantly improve its water efficiency, reduce its need for freshwater, and increase its water reuse. This makes is possible to conserve the scarce freshwater sources in the region. Evides started their industry water policy in the 1980s to serve their industrial client with other water than only drinking water. Now the Dow Site in Terneuzen uses 60,000 m 3 water per day. Internal recycling water streams, process water, condensate and rainwater supply half the amount, 30,000 m 3 water, per day. Since February of last year, 7,500 m 3 of cleaned wastewater from the Terneuzen community are reused effectively every day. This is the first time that the industry reuses a combination of industrial and municipal wastewater on such a large scale. The outcome has resulted from many years of cooperation among the Industrial Water Company Evides, the Zeeuws-Vlaanderen Water Board and Dow Benelux, and active supported by the authorities of the Zeeland Province and the town of Terneuzen. Together, they implemented this large-scale reuse of wastewater treatment plant effluents for industrial applications in order to meet different water needs simultaneously. The successful private-public partnership in the region proved that the water rules can be changed by looking at former industrial as well as municipal wastewaters as a new reliable water source. The industry can reuse it as a means to also contribute to a more natural water chain and to conserve the freshwater sources for municipal usage first. Implementing a successful water strategy in the region simultaneously depends on many key factors: a balanced operating license for all involved partners, availability and accessibility of multi-water sources, the willingness of each partner to expand its existing internal focus with an external vision toward benefiting the entire region, managing the team risk properly, understanding the chain complexity and the many involved technologies simultaneously, and creating a modular approach for enhancing Public-private-partnership SKIW water symposium 15 May 2008 Apeldoorn Netherlands pag. 1 of pag. 13

2020

This cumulative dissertation aims to understand the role of water operators’ partnerships (WOPs) in improving urban water supply in developing countries. Through two cases in Vietnam, safe access to water is explored in relation to the place-specific adaptation of decentralized and non-networked infrastructures, as well as the expansion of large-scale (centralized) infrastructures. The case of Hanoi uses the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of urban political ecology and splintering urbanism to understand multilevel water governance and suburbanization trends. The second case compares performance changes of the local water utility in Da Nang, before and after a cooperation with the Dutch organization, VEI (formerly known as Vitens Evides International)—the world’s leading non-profit promoter and implementer of WOPs. In this example, supporting institutions include the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the United States Agenda fo...

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2014

The demand for water in the central coastal mining area of Namibia has been increasing in recent years and the public utility company responsible for bulk water supply is battling to keep pace. The study investigated whether the idea of developing a desalination plant had buy-in from stakeholders and whether they perceived Private Public Partnership (PPP) as an applicable approach to deliver the project. Methodology: The approach involved a review of literature followed up by a survey which utilised selfadministered questionnaires to collect data from 70 respondents from government, Public Utility Company and a number of water and mining consulting firms. Findings: Findings confirm the inadequacy of water sources to cater for the current and future mines' demand and to ensure long-term access to bulk water supply, the majority of respondents agree that developing a desalination plant would provide an alternative solution. However, majority of respondents indicate that to date, their institutions do not allocate sufficient budget towards new water infrastructure development and maintenance for the mines and therefore PPP would be an appropriate mechanism to develop the desalination facility. Research limitations: These include that PPP is a relatively new concept in Namibia especially in the water sector and a lack of representation from the local authority in the study. Value of the Paper: The study forms a basis to explore strategies and measures that could be put in place to facilitate the implementation of PPP as an alternative procurement route in the Namibian water sector to develop infrastructure to serve particularly the central coastal mining area. Conclusion: There is a need to develop new water infrastructure to meet the increasing demand in the central coastal Namibian mining area and alternative project delivery options must be explored.

Nucleation and Atmospheric Aerosols, 2017

The construction of large water resources infrastructure project often involved a joint-operation (JO) project between two or more construction companies. The form of JO can be grouped into two categories-an integrated type and a non-integrated type. This paper investigates the reason of forming a JO project made by companies. The specific advantages and problems of JO project is also analysed in this paper. In order to achieve the objectives, three water resources infrastructure projects were selected as case studies. Data was gathered by conducting 11 semi-structured interviews to project owners, contractor managers, and project staffs. Data was analysed by means of content analysis. It was found that the most fundamental factor to form a JO is to win a competition or tender. An integrated model is in favour because it can reduce overhead costs and has a simple management system, while a non-integrated model is selected because it can avoid a sleeping partner and make contractor more responsible for their own job.

Water Policy, 2013

The on-going debate on aid effectiveness highlights that in order for capacity development interventions to remain relevant and their results sustainable, their planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation need to be flexible and case-specific. It is not only important to account for end results, but also to adjust interventions during their implementation. Capacity development partnerships (CDP) between water operators are portrayed as a promising approach for sustained performance. However, it has been observed that these interventions require significant time to lead to the targeted water operator performance gains. Hence, managing the partnership solely through the use of key performance indicators offers the partners little insight into both the progress achieved and the effectiveness of the partnership activities in contributing to such progress. This incomplete picture is likely to limit the ability of partners to manage the project efficiently. This paper proposes a m...

One way in which international water operator partnerships can contribute to capacity development, is through the exchange of experiences with water institutions in different countries. This paper looks at a partnership between water operators in the Netherlands and Malawi to see to what extent institutional experiences in the Netherlands can contribute to capacity development of the Lilongwe Water Board in Malawi. For this, it combines insights from policy transfer, with a conceptual framework based on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework. Stylized game theoretic models are used to analyze in-depth the institutional (dis)incentives that contribute to improved performance for customers. Experiences in the Netherlands are analyzed by studying four specific action situations, such as asset management at drinking water company Vitens NV. Potential lessons are derived from this, which are evaluated for potential transfer to Malawi. The analysis suggests ways in which improved information gathering and data management can support allocation of investment and budgets for operation and maintenance. Furthermore, it suggests ways to increase the frequency of encounters between government and financing institutions and water utilities, as well as the use of a system of benchmarking to provide a platform for sharing best practices and to create competition.

Science of The Total Environment, 2014

The role that deficient institutional relationships have played in aggravating drinking water incidents over the last 30 years has been identified in several inquiries of high profile drinking water safety events, peer-reviewed articles and media reports. These indicate that collaboration between water utilities and public health agencies (PHAs) during normal operations, and in emergencies, needs improvement. Here, critical elements of these interagency collaborations, that can be integrated within the corporate risk management structures of water utilities and PHAs alike, were identified using a grounded theory approach and 51 semi-structured interviews with utility and PHA staff. Core determinants of effective interagency relationships are discussed. Intentionally maintained functional relationships represent a key ingredient in assuring the delivery of safe, high quality drinking water.