Transforming water sector performance
Establish the international standard for water and sanitation services providers by offering a comprehensive, impartial and reliable evaluation of their performance and practices, enabling utilities and other stakeholders to engage in improvement actions.
- Excellence – committed to improving the performance of water and wastewater utilities.
- Accountability – all assessment criteria are publicly available and based on best available science and recognized practices.
- Universality – effective for all water and wastewater utilities. Results are standardised by an independent audit.
The Rating system for Water and Sanitation Services Providers
AquaRating focuses the challenges water and sanitation services providers face in a comprehensive way, evaluating their performance through indicators and management practices, establishing an international standard, and relying on information verified by independent auditors accredited by the AquaRating Entity.
The basic goal of the rating system is evaluating the water and sanitation services in an integrated way through 112 assessment elements organized in 8 areas, providing a rating in each one of them – as a result of rating each and every single of their compounding elements – to get aggregated in a unique mark (from 0 to 100, and called AquaRating) for the utility. This way, AquaRating avoids the simplistic message of the single rating, allowing at the same time having a quick view of the utility areas with improvement potential.
AquaRating brings multiple benefits to its main stakeholders:
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Allows the utilities:
- Obtaining an external and credible performance rating, which contributes to foster reputation and acceptance, gain access to new markets and finance, and attract qualified staff;
- Identify areas of improvement and receive guidance;
- Get access to a living knowledge framework that fosters continuous learning for the performance sustainable progress; and
- Establish a baseline to monitor the services provision improvement.
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Allows governments, regulators and development agencies:
- Using the rating system as a standard to stimulate utilities to maintain or improve their performance and target incentives, technical assistance or finance according to performance; and
- Establish a baseline to monitor the services provision improvement.
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Allows the consumers:
- Obtaining better services in terms of access, quality, efficiency, sustainability and transparency.
AquaRating is a result of a joint development process lead by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in close collaboration with the International Water Association (IWA), host of the AquaRating Entity. During its 5 years of execution, the AquaRating design and test phases received valuable contributions from utilities performance assessment internationally recognized experts, regulators and government entities, multilateral organizations, national development agencies, and other water sector relevant agents.