Veolia Water is involved in all aspects of water services from abstracting water, producing and distributing drinking water, treating wastewater, releasing the water back into the environment through to customer relations.
These services are all part of outsourcing.
- The principles behind outsourcing
The public authorities and the operating company, whether it is public or private, is committed to supplying drinking water and providing a wastewater service.
However, managing these services is a threeway relationship in which the citizen consumer also has a role to play.
- Veolia Water, the local authority, consumers
Outsourcing creates a link between local authorities, citizen-consumers and operating companies such as Veolia Water.
This threeway relationship provides a customized response to local issues by relying on technical and organizational skills that take into account consumer satisfaction as well as that of the elected officials.
In fact, the quality of the water and wastewater services can affect the quality of life of the local community. It is therefore in the interest of the public authorities to define and set up an efficient and durable organization.
The flow of information between the three stakeholders is a major issue. Greater involvement by environmental or consumer groups shows how important these concerns are to ordinary people.
Outsourcing is able to deal with the issues surrounding water and ensure transparency in this threeway relationship, while at the same time continuously improving the service to consumers.
For its part, the local authority benefits from the optimal use of its assets and the increasing improvement in productivity.
- The added value of outsourcing
Water services are local services. Outsourcing provides a framework that can adapt to the specific local requirements of each local authority while at the same time enabling it to benefit from the expertise of companies with specialist international experience.This leads to the services being better managed.
- Flexibility
Outsourcing is a management system which can be flexible when it comes to financing, operations and the length of the contract.
In short, this flexibility can be seen in the way the terms and conditions for the operating of the service are clearly set out in the contract between the local authority and the specialist operating company.
At any time during the contract the local authority may decide to modify the operating conditions of the outsourced service.
- Safeguarding health
Producing water which is safe to drink is the main priority for operating companies. Veolia Water systematizes the certification of its equipment and facilities through independent bodies who guarantee the continuity and safety of its service provision.
In France, the Group has attained conformance to the quality management standard ISO 9001 for drinking water production and wastewater treatment operations.
Attaining ISO 14 001 certification, a voluntary standard for environmental management, is also under way with 148 sites having already attained conformance by the end of 2003.
In total, 80% of the revenue from the operating of wastewater services comes from services which conform to ISO 9001 or ISO 14001.
- Optimising the existing infrastructure
Veolia Water uses its expertise and technology to optimize the infrastructure that it has been entrusted with by the local authorities.
By optimizing existing infrastructure you can delay or avoid the need to make certain investments.
This was the case in Paris (right bank) where network efficiency - the ratio between the volume of water consumed and the volume of water in the network - has continually improved. In 20 years it rose from 75% to more than 92%.
This improvement has reduced by 330 million m3 the volume abstracted from the natural environment i.e. the equivalent of 2 years' consumption levels.
- Increasing improvement in productivity
In an outsourcing contract the parties agree, a priori, on a reference price which is used as a ceiling for providing the service provision.
This approach means there is a strong incentive to optimize the managing of operations and the maintenance of the infrastructure.
This situation actively encourages the operating company to manage in the best way possible and to make productivity gains.
Any productivity gains that are achieved are shared with the local authority as stipulated in the contract.
- Access to an international skills network
Competition encourages private operating companies to provide the best service at best possible cost and to put to good use their research programs to improve their service provision.
The increasing number of contracts also enables them to earmark the necessary resources to carry out research and thereby come up with technological innovations in the water services sector.
By being part of a network, Veolia Water's experts, whether they are working in research centers or in the various subsidiaries located throughout the world, provide their customers with the best tailored solutions for resolving their particular set of problems.
- Meeting operational requirements
Research and development teams constantly make sure that from a scientific point of view the operating companies have the means to meet all daily operational requirements such as when incidents of accidental contamination occur.
Based in France, at Maisons-Laffitte just outside Paris, Veolia Water's research center, "Anjou Research", works in close collaboration with its affiliates in Germany, Australia, Canada....
- Prioritising training and the exchange of expertise
Veolia Water's global position guarantees the diversity and quality of its workforce, the men and women at the heart of its services. Each year more than a million hours is spent in providing training to the Group's employees.
The following principles underpin Veolia Water's operations: giving responsibility to local management, developing talents, developing a culture that promotes dialogue, social innovation, taking specific steps to successfully move from public to private. (see page Human Resources)
