Non-payment of customer bills poses the biggest Covid-19 threat to water utilities worldwide, according to research presented at the latest Water Action Platform webinar.
The bi-weekly webinar from global technology consultancy Isle gives a snapshot of best practices and lessons learnt from utilities and water sector experts around the world as they respond to the coronavirus pandemic, while addressing other key issues facing the industry.
Hosted by Isle chairman Dr Piers Clark, the webinars are open to all
The round-up of key learnings from the sixteenth Water Action Platform webinar, which took place on 6 August includes a discussion on non-payment, described as Covid-19’s biggest threat to water.
Participants in the webinar heard that water utilities are “walking on a knife’s edge”, due to a significant loss of revenue caused by non-payment of water bills during the crisis.
A case study from Rolando Hinojosa, chairman of the National Federation of Water & Sanitation Service Co-operatives and presented to the Water Action Platform webinar, highlighted that 160 drinking water and sanitation co-operatives in Bolivia are essentially insolvent. This is due to a government instruction to halve customer bills along with non-payment, the webinar learned.
Dr Clark drew attention to a comment from Luke Wilson, deputy director at the Center for Water Security & Cooperation, who said:
“Utilities are being forced to take on debt by the government but the people may not be able to repay it and the government may not be able to backstop the utility. We’re walking on a knife’s edge.”
Dr Clark suggested three steps to move forward:
“Firstly, we must openly and honestly acknowledge the situation so we can start a dialogue.
Secondly, we should embrace the digital revolution. A number of sources have identified that one of the key positive impacts of Covid-19 will be a greater shift to digital. This could be transformational for the water sector. We’ve known for years that if we use our data more intelligently, we could make more informed capital and operational decisions but it’s difficult moving legacy systems to a new digital way of working. Perhaps Covid-19 will provide the impetus we need.
Finally, is the role new technology. As a sector we are not short of new technology, however, the industry is often described as being slow to adopt.”
The next Water Action Platform webinar will have a particular focus on technology and will provide a summary of highlights from Isle’s recent Covid-19 technology scan. The online network, initially set up by consultancy Isle as part of the water industry’s response to Covid-19, is growing rapidly.
Click here to view the 30-minute Water Action Platform webinar
The next webinar takes place twice on Thursday 20 August and is open to utilities, organisations and companies across the water sector. There are two time slots to accommodate time differences - 7:30am and 4:30 pm BST (UTC+1). Click here to register here
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