AWWA JAW36128

Studying the practices that make leading organizations efficient and at the same time able to provide high-quality services can identify enormous potential for improvement. The Sydney Water Board (SWB) has embraced a program of change based on a study of "best practice" and benchmarking at a number of organizations worldwide. Key results of the study are presented here. The practices, systems, and technology that determine "best practice" were discovered with the cooperation of the organizations achieving a designated level of performance. In some cases, this involved organizations outside the water and wastewater industries. The changes that will be implemented at the SWB are far-reaching, reducing costs in the areas studied by as much as 30 percent, while benefiting customer service and the environment. Includes tables, figures.