1. Launching the NRW Toolkit
Mohammed Shafei
Aqaba Water Presentation at the
Arab Water Week 2017

2. The NRW Diagnostic Tool Water Balance Calculation Sheet
The NRW Toolkit is a group of tools aimed at helping water utilities and experts in all aspects of NRW management.
The Toolkit was developed by ACWUA NRW Task Force and contained:
The NRW Diagnostic Tool
Water Balance Calculation Sheet
Visit report template
Performance Improvement Plan template
Concept note for funding template
The concept revolved around replicating the activities conducted in assessing NRW reduction systems, factors, resources, and activities in utilities by a group of experts.

3. The main concerns that promotes developing and using the NRW Toolkit and related work:
Few water utilities in the MENA and African region are implementing NRW good practices.
Many utilities leaders search for the “magic bullet” instead of focusing on improving all aspects of daily work.
Large investments are made with the aim to reduce NRW but the impact on NRW figures have been hard to demonstrate.
Therefore, to tackle these issues, this line of work looks into the following possible solutions:
Simplifying the concepts behind NRW reduction good practices in an integrated way that removes any mystery or false hope.
Showing the hidden efforts that are needed for the success of any NRW reduction initiative.
Focusing on institutional responsibilities in managing and enforcing daily procedures that often get lost in the big picture.
Building a roadmap for success in reducing NRW..

4. In January 2015, ACWUA signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Water Association (AfWA) in the fields of research, training and certification, joint events, youth programs, knowledge exchange and other activities.

5. (Developing Diagnosis Techniques and Strategies to Reduce Non-Revenue Water (NRW) in the Middle East) Project Objectives:
Analyze the causes for high NRW in the Arab Region utilities and investigate the reasons behind fluctuations in NRW management performance through understanding the underlying factors and challenges related to:
sector governance, utility organization and structures, operational systems and functions, nature of supply and services, and network physical status
Develop the capacity within ACWUA to provide support to its utility members to target NRW reduction and advance utilities efforts to improve performance
Create and strengthen a permanent NRW task force within ACWUA as a continuing technical resource to the region, particularly for expanding the effort to new utilities
Support ACWUA utilities in developing and implementing strategies & action plans to reduce NRW
Build linkages and knowledge exchange platforms between ACWUA and AfWA members through common research on NRW problems in the region
External Factors
Governance
Environment
Social
etc.
Internal Factors
Management
Capacity
Procedures
Etc.
Good practices
NRW Monitoring
ALC
Meter Accuracy
Performance
L/C/D
Selection of Subject Utilities and Task Force ☑
Design and Preparation of Utility Assessments ☑
Implementation of Assessment ☑
NRW Strategies & Identifying Improvement Measures and Action Plans ☑
Coaching and Mentoring during Plan Implementation ☑
Knowledge Exchange (and final NRW Toolkit) ☑

6. The original ACWUA NRW Diagnostic Tool was an Excel based tool for gathering data from utilities for research purposes and to determine the factors affecting NRW performance in MENA utilities.

7. The original ACWUA NRW Diagnostic Tool was an Excel based tool for gathering data from utilities for research purposes and to determine the factors affecting NRW performance in MENA utilities.
Knowledge of good practices
Technical comp.
Success stories and pilots
Allocation of material resources
Dedicated staff
Clear roles and resp.
Clear plans and objectives
Motivation and incentives
Mgmt. inv. and leadership
Operating proc.
Technical specs and standards
Internal comm.
Enf. and authority
Quality of data and records
Measur't
Bulk meter sectorization 3 2 1 -1
Bulk Metering Accuracy
2.5
Customer Metering 4
Data Acquisition -2
Analysis
Top-Down Water Balance
Representative KPIs
Bottom Up Analysis
Economic Level of NRW
Physical Loss
Active Leakage Control
Speed and Quality of Repair
3.5
Pressure Management
Pipeline and Asset Management
Commercial Loss
Meter Accuracy
Meter Reading Accuracy
Reduction of Unauthorized Cons.
Accuracy of Customer Database
3.8

8. Members from AfWA and ACWUA NRW Task Force met in Nairobi in May 2016 to work on gathering the requirements for developing the ACWUA NRW Diagnostic Tool and the NRW Toolkit to AfWA needs.

9. The main assessment of the Diagnostic Tool remained the same but each item was reviewed and updated after meeting with the AfWA NRW Task Force. The goals are different for each utility based on the current success in applying NRW good practices.

10. For each goal, the actions that are needed to be taken by the utility are assessed afterwards, and new categorization was used: Institutional, Data, Knowledge, Resources, and External factors.

11. After the assessment is completed, an automatic report is produced showing the actions that need to be taken to satisfy the individual utility goals.

12. However, the complexity of the tool was too much for Excel
However, the complexity of the tool was too much for Excel. A website was developed to house the NRW toolkit, and giving these tools much greater versatility.

13. The web-based tools offer advantages over offline tools:
Field or desktop surveys of water utilities to collect information pertaining to water loss activities.
Intelligent and automatically generated action plan that responds to the specific requirements of the water utility.
Web-based database storage of all inputs received that are accessible to ACWUA at any time.
Private data access to individual users. Login using registration through or Social Profile (Facebook and Google).
Assignment of privileges and access to individual users.
Ready to print report of the results at any time after the diagnostic study.
Report generation using the entered results and comments.
Adaptable and flexible tool design that allows editing the text, pictures, as well as the association (knowledge base) of the Tool.

14. Users can choose between tools of different versions, and each version can be customized according to needs.

15. Similar to the original design, each good practice is discussed individually with the utility to determine the suitable goal.

16. Depending on the discussions of the first section, questions are pulled from a database of questions that relate to the specific utility, and to establish the actions that need to be taken.

17. After the session is finished, the results are automatically presented with recommendations for improving the level of:
knowledge (through training and consultancy)
Resources (through investment in infrastructure and equipment)
Institutional action (by improving management practices)
Data (through the improvement of systems and data records)
External environment management (through mitigating risks and promoting change)

18. The tool stores the raw inputs, whether answers and comments, and allows for saving the data in PDF format. Data can be accessed directly by the administrator.

19. Users, tools, surveys, questions, and all details can be managed with a user-friendly interface to tool managers and the administrators.

20. Also the internal logic of the tool can be edited and customized according to need, and many versions can be created and used.

21. The current and future goals for the NRW Toolkit are:
Launching the NRW Toolkit for AfWA water utilities.
Using the NRW Diagnostic Tool in practice.
Developing the Water Auditing Tool.
Developing the financial feasibility Tool.
Improving the KPI Tool.
And most importantly
Developing criteria for benchmarking and new KPIs for goal achievement in water utility management that affect NRW.
Developing dynamic and smart standards for actions and good practices for utilities that make the link between the daily utility operational needs and the final impact on reducing NRW and improving efficiency.

22. The Water Auditing Tool
The Water Auditing Tool is a web application that allows the utilities to work step-by-step towards building a detailed water balance. The main objective is building an intuitively simple yet advanced and powerful tool with visual representation of findings. The tool includes the following functionalities:
Some features:
Visual navigation (no more Excel style spreadsheets), Descriptions in English and Arabic, Web pages with illustrations, images and drawings to impact decision makers, Colour printable reports, Generated action list for data gathering and increasing accuracy, Quantities and bulk meter testing error recording, Estimation of error margins and uncertainty, Separate cost of production calculation, Billed quantities, Meter testing and error recording, Categorization of customers by type, Estimation of error margins and uncertainty, Separate selling price calculation, Separate calculation of estimation error for unmetered customers, Estimation of unauthorized consumption, Collection of utility data such as the number of customers, service connections, and network length, Estimation of error margins and uncertainty for utility variables, Segregation by zone or sector, Visual water balance with simple scenario testing, Calculation of real and commercial water losses, Calculating of the cost of real and commercial water losses, Calculation of KPIs such as ILI, API, and Water Loss, Clearly demonstrated error margins for decision makers and donors, etc.

23. The Financial Feasibility Tool
This tool takes the output of the Water Auditing Tool and the NRW Diagnostic Tool and helps utilities and water expert prioritise spending based on financial feasibility.
Some features:
The calculation of cost per unit, and per plan, For institutional changes, the calculation of the needed time and effort to be done by the utility, For external mitigation, the calculation of cost where applies, For knowledge and skill, the calculation of training and qualification costs, Priorities of actions based on meter errors, unauthorised consumption, and real losses.

24. The current and future goals for the NRW Toolkit are:
Launching the NRW Toolkit for water utilities.
Using the NRW Diagnostic Tool in practice.
Developing the Water Auditing Tool.
Developing the financial feasibility Tool.
Improving the KPI Tool.
And most importantly
Developing criteria for benchmarking and new KPIs for goal achievement in water utility management that affect NRW.
Developing dynamic and smart standards for actions and good practices for utilities that make the link between the daily utility operational needs and the final impact on reducing NRW and improving efficiency.

25. The GAP in Performance Monitoring
Meters
Chambers
Equipment
Systems needed
Etc.
Resources
Training
Data gathering
Enforcing procedures
Actions
DMA based supply
Water Loss Audited
Good meter maintenance
Goals
NRW Volume
Cost recovery
Supply continuity
Impact

26. Launching the NRW Toolkit
Thank you
Launching the NRW Toolkit