World Water Week 2021 opened on Monday 23 August with the theme of building resilience. Over five days, 16,200 participants from 170 countries will debate the major challenges linked to water, against the background of the pandemic and the end of the crisis, reminding us that structuring choices must be made to reconcile the environment and human development. Veolia discussed three conditions for the ecological transformation of water and sanitation services: digital technology, its impact on employees and the financing of projects.
Digitisation is transforming the water business
Digital solutions meet the new imperatives of transparency and public authorities' accountability to citizens. These solutions are now essential for protecting the environment and improving the working conditions of employees. Municipalities are finding, with digitisation, a way to access their facilities' data in real time, to dialogue with customers and operators, and to build a development strategy on this basis.
For Frédéric van Heems, Director of Veolia's North America zone:
Digitisation makes it possible to deliver the right information at the right place and at the right time to public and private users. But employees' know-how remains essential: their commitment and motivation are crucial in this process of change... Digitisation makes team management more inclusive, and employees are more aware of their contribution to the collective result. It provides meaning for users and customers.
Impact on engagement and trust
15 Veolia employees from around the world spoke about the impact of digitisation on their daily lives and on their commitment to their business. For them, digital means “more efficiency and ease”. Thanks to information issued in real time, municipalities can directly challenge technicians to improve services and facilities. Veolia employees are proud of this new responsibility.
Cedric Beaudeau, technician at Veolia in France, explained:
Ease of access to data encourages exchanges between the various businesses. The client understands that this data is authentic because it has no filter. It has even been found that transparency of information does not put additional pressure on employees, but increases customer confidence: better informed customers invest more appropriately to keep their installations in good condition.
Digital, decisive during the pandemic
Asked about studies which predict that 50% of jobs in the sector worldwide will be affected by digitisation, Prett Brar, Country Director at Veolia India, reaffirmed:
We need new digital skills, but we also need to train all Veolia employees in this transition in order to maintain and develop our know-how. For example in Nagpur in India, during the pandemic, digital technology was decisive: it made it possible to guarantee continuity of services with better health control for the safety of employees. And personally, I think that in India, working in water and sanitation services is much more than a job!"
Chloé Dupont, Head of Digital Transformation of the Veolia Group, concluded:
Veolia's digital roadmap is based on 4 pillars associated with concrete objectives and performance indicators: employees, customers, operations, offers. The digitisation of water and sanitation services takes dialogue with municipalities to a higher level in terms of trust and efficiency. But the condition is that all Group employees are involved in the digital transition, in support of ecological transformation.
Financing sustainable projects in Africa
To achieve the objectives for SDGs 6.1 and 6.2, the need for investments in water and sanitation infrastructure in Africa is USD 35 billion per year. Currently, less than half of that amount is spent SIWI, organiser of World Water Week, reiterated that partnerships with the private sector could contribute even more, but it is necessary to put in place prices reflecting costs, accompanied by transparent governance.
Olivier Brousse, Senior Executive Vice President, Strategy and Innovation at Veolia, insisted:
Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) need robust public authorities because these long-term contracts are more sophisticated than others, much more visible and engaging. All stakeholders must support this commitment throughout the life of the contract. One example in Niger: Veolia has tripled the population served, in a viable PPP. Another example in Tangier, Morocco: the "water, sanitation and electricity" PPP combines the financing needs of these three services. The success of a PPP lies in the commitment of the public authority to guarantee the improvement of the service throughout the lifetime of the contract, with a good distribution of risks between the public and private portions, in continuous dialogue with the operator and the other stakeholders.
Review Veolia's sessions (video):
"Digitisation: No skill left behind" with Frédéric van Heems, Preet Brar and Chloe Dupont.
Financing of water projects in Africa: “Bankable water projects in Africa & lessons from other sectors", with Olivier Brousse.