Technical Working Groups

Introduction

The main objective of the Arab Countries Water Utilities Association (ACWUA) is to establish a strong, regional, self-sustainable Association of the water supply and sanitation utilities in Arab countries in order to assist the members to improve their performance in the delivery of water supply and sanitation services. In order to achieve the association goals; ACWUA initiated interdisciplinary Working Groups comprising qualified experts from ACWUA members to deal with specific issues in different priority areas of the water sector.

Guidelines for TWGs

Seven Working Groups with related sub-groups shall contribute to ACWUA’s objectives:

1. Management of Utilities

1.1 Cost Recovery

1.1.1 Non Revenue Water

1.1.2 Water for the Poor

1.1.3 Energy Efficiency

1.2 Asset Management

2. Capacity Building and Training

2.1 Training Strategy

2.2 Certification

3. Management of Water Resources

3.1 Governance

3.2 Master Planning

3.3 Protection of Resources

3.4 Adaption to Climate Change

3.5 Integrated Water Resources Management

4. Water and Health

4.1 Domestic Water Supply

4.2 Waste Water Treatment and Re-use

5. Utilities’ Reforms

5.1 Autonomy/ Commercialization

5.2 Public-Public Partnership

5.3 Private-Public Partnership

6. Benchmarking

Within the activities of the regional ACWUA WANT project supported by GIZ, and building on ACWUA benchmarking technical working group (BM-TWG) kick-off meeting in Algeria, the BM-TWG agreed on the vision, mission, expected tasks, methodology and approach. As a result, the group agreed to work on a pilot benchmarking program (ACWUA-RBM) for ACWUA utility members following the international best practices of benchmarking for water and wastewater utilities.

During group meeting in April 2015, it was agreed that ACWUA-RBM will focus on the followings aspects:

  • Overall Utility Performance
  • Non-Revenue Water
  • Energy Efficiency

The list in the frame beside illustrates the Performance Indicators to be collected and analyzed from all utilities participating in ACWUA-RBM.

ACWUA-RBM will utilize aquabench online software for data acquisition and data analysis. The technical team from ACWUA secretariat will be responsible on managing ACWUA-RBM within the support of the BM-TWG to help in them in promoting this benchmarking exercise, and invite water utilities from different Arab countries to join the first regional benchmarking exercise in the Arab region.

The utilities willing to join ACWUA-RBM benchmarking exercise should kindly download the registration form from the right and send back the filled form by e-mail to the ACWUA Director of Programs and Technical Services, Mr. Mustafa Nasereddin.

7. Public Awareness

8. Quality Management Systems (QMS) Task Forces – Technical Sustainable Management (TSM-Arab)

Management of Utilities

The pressure on water utilities to improve the efficiency and capacity in supplying water is extremely high in the countries in the Middle East and North Africa. The water resources are limited while demand is rapidly rising due to population growth, agricultural use, increasing industrialization and urbanization. Setting the right Standards of Operation and Maintenance of water and wastewater systems are essential for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the water utility operations; which include clear instructions and guidance on what is required to be done, when and why. The ACWUA Technical Working Group “Management of Utilities” especially focus on the topics like Cost Recovery and Asset Management.

 Water and Health

ACWUA’s Water and Health technical working group; is collecting information about wastewater reuse in the Arab region and the status of water reuse at different countries. ACWUA as a regional platform for a wide membership comprising more than 90 water and wastewater utilities from 15 Arab countries, can play a pivotal role in providing linkages between different wastewater utilities and promoting best practices in wastewater reuse among them. Different case studies from the Arab region demonstrating current practices in wastewater reuse for irrigation, with an outlook on environmental and health risks and mitigation measures at different levels. Objectives: To Collect information about wastewater reuse in the Arab Region To disseminate best practices To conduct training programs for wastewater treatment & disposal To develop awareness campaigns.

Utilities’ Reforms

General Description:
Water and wastewater utilities have been going through various reforms and restructuring initiatives to improve operational performance, extend services, and advance management systems.  The debate question is: how much does the shape and structure of the utility affect its management performance?  Utilities ownership, private sector participation, public-private partnerships, public-public partnerships, commercialization, and utility competiveness are some of the debated structures under utility reform initiatives.  The reform debate extended beyond shapes and structures to address business practices including autonomy, recovery of costs, corporate governance, and performance management. In Jordan, utility reform has focused on commercialization of services through establishing companies that are owned by the government for operations and forms of operations and micro Private Sector Participation (PSP).  In Egypt, the government has established the holding company and the subsidiary companies, and requested recovery of O&M costs. In Morocco, lease contracts are seen in major cities and commercialized operations of ONEP in addition to outsourcing of operations. In the Gulf, reform initiatives show separation of utility operations into production, transmission, and distribution with PSP in production and distribution.
Objectives:
to serve as a knowledge centre within ACWUA to provide advice and best practices on a wide range of utilities reform topics To provide a forum for developing regional frameworks and guiding principles that will be further incorporated into national policies and programs and adopted at utility level To explore the opportunities of exchanging regional experience and organizing twinning opportunities between water utilities in the region.