Caribbean water utilities in IDB pilot project
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has established a prototype version of an innovative data-sharing platform for seven Caribbean water utilities inside a virtual community.
Seven utilities are said to be involved in the data-sharing platform. They are the Bahamas Water & Sewerage Corporation (WSC), the Barbados Water Authority (BWA), and the
Belize Water Services Limited (BWSL), Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI), Jamaica’s National Water Commission (NWC), Suriname’s N.V. Surinaamsche Waterleiding Maatschappij (SWM), and Trinidad and Tobago’s Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA)
According to the IDB, utilities can use the platform to exchange real-time data on parts and supplies, accelerating mutual aid and ultimately saving costs.
The IDB has teamed with H2bid, Inc. through Source of Innovation to deliver a one-year trial version of this platform, which is powered by AURSI.
The H2bid/AURSI platform is a one-of-a-kind virtual community with a network effect that unites utilities from a variety of industries, including water, wastewater, gas, and electricity. It aims to assist Caribbean water utilities by facilitating access to replacement parts, encouraging the development of new technologies, facilitating the sharing of technical information such as specifications, promoting the exchange of best practices, policies, and procedures, and reducing waste by making surplus items available to other Caribbean utilities.
According to the IDB, this new pilot platform will improve coordination among Caribbean water utilities, allowing them to recover from climate-related disasters caused by more frequent and severe hurricanes.
Furthermore, it tackles current supply chain difficulties by speeding mutual aid during catastrophes to quickly restore service.
According to the IDB, utility users will be able to connect with their peers from other participating utilities via the virtual community.
During the pilot phase, the IDB and participating utilities will investigate the viability of expanding the pilot version to include a pooled procurement program, a tried-and-true mechanism for cost savings through bulk purchasing.
“The effects of climate change make it imperative to strengthen the resilience and efficiency of public utilities,” said Sergio Campos, IDB’s Water and Sanitation Division chief.
“In order to improve public utilities’ ability to respond quickly and effectively to the effects of climate change, the Bank has supported the creation of a resource sharing platform.” By launching this trial platform, we are establishing a network environment in which utilities can collaborate to improve climate resilience, save money, and make better decisions,” Campos noted.
“The H2bid/AURSI team is excited to partner with IDB to introduce this new concept of a virtual, data-sharing community to water utilities in the Caribbean region,” Glenn Oliver, CEO of H2bid, said in a statement
“We are already seeing interest from more organizations and water utilities in the Caribbean region, which is great because the virtual community has a network effect—meaning the benefits for participating utilities will only increase as more utilities join.”
The Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association, the Caribbean Water & Sewerage Association, and the Caribbean Development Bank all actively participated in the pilot platform launch event, expressing their organizations’ support for the virtual community and a strong desire to see it expanded to include more Caribbean water utilities, according to the IDB.
