Enhancing efficiency and sustainability of Water Supply and Sanitation
The OECD jointly with EC DG Reform and the Governments of Estonia and Lithuania held an international workshop on Enhancing efficiency and sustainability of Water Supply and Sanitation (WSS) provision on 15-16 June.
This workshop was organised in the framework of the program funded by the European Union to support Estonia and Lithuania in the area of the water sector reform and further consolidation of WSS services.
Assuming consolidation of service provision is the way forward, the main objective of the workshop was to discuss the international experience in this area and the issues associated with this process.
The program of the 2-day event was organised around 5 thematic sessions during which the practitioners from the 12 EU Member States, the UK and neighbouring countries with relevant experience with similar reforms shared their experience and lessons learnt. The workshop discussed: how to plan investment, taking into consideration economies of scale; the role of WSS tariff structure and economic incentives; how to benchmark the performance of utilities to drive efficiency and incentivise agglomeration of service provision; the distinctive issues in small and rural settlements.
About 150 practitioners from 12 EU Member States, the UK and the Eastern Europe discussed the challenges with consolidation of WSS service provision and associated regulatory aspects.
PRESENTATIONS
Tuesday 15 June
Item 1. Role of strategic planning for WSS provision
Item 2. Potential of inter-municipal cooperation and consolidation modalities
- Factors influencing a choice of technology and business model for WSS provision: Ms. Katharina Lenz and Mr Clements Steidl, UBA, Austria
- IAS and Decentralized solutions of WSS in Romania: Mr. Gheorghe Constantin, Ministry of Environment, Romania
- Inter-municipal cooperation in Finland: finding synergies and addressing challenges: Mr. Paavo Taipale, Head of municipal infrastructure, Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities
Item 3. The virtuous cycle of consolidation – a 25-years journey
Wednesday 16 June
Item 4. Enhancing regulatory system for WSS service provision
- Regulation as a driver for performance, New Zealand Case Study: Mr. Alan Sutherland, Chief Executive, Water Industry Commission for Scotland
- Performance indicators and monitoring programmes: How to reward performance: Ms. Margarida Monte, ERSAR, Portugal
- Aggregation of utilities in Hungary: Dr. Kisvárdai Gábor, Hungarian Energy And Public Utility Regulatory Authority
Item 5. Zoom-in on challenges in small and rural municipalities
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- Contacts: xavier.leflaive@oecd.org and tatiana.efimova@oecd.org