Managing Resilient Water Utilities

The Managing resilient Water Utilities Course consists of three main blocks.

The first block concerns a broad discussion about the concept of resilience. In this block the history of the concept is discussed, different interpretations of the concept and how it is used in different disciplines. In this block the importance of the concept in relation to important water supply sector challenges is also elaborated upon.

In the second block, the course looks at how resilience has been incorporated in the strategy and operations of water utilities. As the course is co-organized by VEI Dutch Water Operators visits to different water utilities will be facilitated to be able to understand from utility staff themselves how their utility approaches resilience.

The third block looks at how shifts to becoming a resilient water utility takes place in practice. Often water utilities have established a working culture and ways of operating that have not changed much for a long period of time. This block engages with the question how organizational change can be facilitated to establish new working procedures and attitudes. In this block a combination of more theoretical class-room sessions will be combined with exercise-like workshop sessions and visits to water utilities to learn from experiences of water utilities that have gone through this change management process.