The International Water Association (IWA) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) have launched jointly the digital AquaRating Community of Practice for water professionals at a water utilities workshop in Quito, Ecuador. This digital platform aims to promoting improvement of water and sanitation services through exchange of knowledge, experiences and good practices among its members.
The AquaRating Community of Practice is especially designed for professionals who work to improve the performance of water utilities through the AquaRating method – a pioneering system of comprehensive performance evaluation of water and sanitation service providers. This method allows them to identify improvement opportunities to offer quality services, ensure coverage, and operate more efficiently.
Through a strategic alliance, IWA and IDB developed the AquaRating method. Today, more than 60 water and sanitation companies across the world use AquaRating to improve their performance and efficiency in water resource management. Currently, AquaRating is also a reference model for regulators, government institutions, cooperation agents for development, and funders, among others.
“The AquaRating Community of Practice aims to capture the experience of water companies that have applied AquaRating so that other companies can learn from these applications and achieve greater benefits by using the tools that support them on their journey to meet the Sustainable Development Goals”, states Kala Vairavamoorthy, IWA Executive Director.
Hosted on the digital environment of IWA Connect, the online platform of the International Water Association, the AquaRating Community of Practice is open to water professionals committed to improving the efficiency of their companies, who are passionate about generating collective solutions to global water challenges.
“The community of practice will be a very useful tool for water and sanitation companies to share and learn from their common experiences, create specific themes and generate a dynamic of open knowledge in the water and sanitation sector,” says Sergio I. Campos G., head of the IDB’s water and sanitation division.
The official presentation of the community of practice takes place during the International Workshop on Management of Change in Companies of the Water and Sanitation Sector, in Quito, Ecuador, on 11 and 12 February. This event counts with the participation of more than a hundred water professionals from Latin American service providers, familiar with the characterisation of the performance offered by AquaRating.
During the workshop, the AquaRating Certification is awarded to the following Latin American utilities: ETAPA, Ecuador, Agua Kpital Cúcuta, Colombia, including the recertification to EPMAPS, Quito, Ecuador.
This international recognition, given by the Inter-American Development Bank and the International Water Association, certifies that these service providers were subjected to a comprehensive evaluation, verified by an independent authorized audit process.
During the ceremony, special mention is made to the three more Latin American water companies which have gained the AquaRating Certification – SADM, Monterrey, Mexico, EPSAS, La Paz, Bolivia, and ANDA, El Salvador.
