After three years of waiting, 71 representatives from 18 different countries in Europe and beyond, gathered on 17 & 18 November 2022 in Kraków, Poland for the IB2021 benchmarking workshop.
The annual benchmarking workshop is an essential part of EBC’s benchmarking programme for water services, which covers both performance assessment- and performance improvement activities.
Goal of the annual workshop is to discuss findings from the performance assessment, which shows comparisons between utilities of comparable size, trends in performance, performance gaps and best performers in the different areas of analysis. A second goal of the workshop is to exchange good practices and innovations, to learn from and get inspired for improvement actions in the own utility.
In the 2022 workshop, which was jointly organised with Kraków Water, participants discussed topics in the areas of Climate Action, Utility Management, Asset Management and Finance & Efficiency, as these are of urgent importance. Utilities shared concrete experiences with raising climate resilience, improving energy efficiency , reducing carbon footprint, new ways of NRW-reduction and much more in breakout sessions, which were introduced by enthusiastic practitioners.
The lively interactions in the sessions and during the breaks and meals showed that In-person contacts definitively contribute to building a strong network of utilities and their staff, committed to improve water services.
It was a great experience to meet in Kraków with so many colleagues in person again. The weather conditions - in particular during a site visit to Kraków’s largest WWTP- posed a challenge to the group, as temperature was dropping fast and we even experienced early snowfall. But despite of this, people were glad to be able to meet again in person.
The organisers look back at a very successful workshop. Also on behalf of the participants, EBC would like to thank Kraków Water sincerely for its excellent organisation and warm hospitality!