Rescuing leakage performance for a water company

How do you recover leakage performance after two extreme weather events?

Our client was proud to beat their leakage targets year-on-year. But then twin weather shocks gave the water network its biggest stress test in years. Leakage levels jumped up and were on track to cause a significant environmental, PR and regulatory performance damage. The company’s historic “recovery” approach of ramping up crews to dig up and fix the pipes wasn’t working, so they turned to Baringa for help.

Building a transformation portfolio to whack every mole at once

Initially we set up a programme governance structure, ensuring all parts of the business were working towards the same goals and communicating effectively with each other. We knew there was never going to be a single silver bullet, so we worked closely with our client to implement a multipronged solution to the leakage challenge. Our experts worked collaboratively with the water company to:

Achieve a 128% increase in leak detection and created a platform for future performance management.
Manage the dig crew’s forecasting and onboarding processes to fix leaks 50% faster, whilst keeping overall productivity high.
Identify areas where our client was over-reporting.
Sift through the innovation pipeline to identify projects that were going to drive near-term impact and accelerate them.

From panic stations to confidently crossing the line

When we began this project, the sense within the client organisation was a belief that the extreme weather would make meeting their leakage target impossible. However, by the end of the programme, their leakage target for the year had been beaten yet again, allowing our client to maintain their industry-leading position. Baringa’s enduring improvements to performance management, reporting, forecasting, governance, and field processes have helped our client to maintain their leading position in the years since.

Find out how we help our clients in Water