Use of Benchmarking For the Improvement of the Operation of the Drinking Water Supply Systems

An effective way to identify the main elements that can provide an image about the efficiency of a system is to compare your performance level with that of another similar system. Therefore, water and wastewater systems need a wide and reliable database that can provide such a comparison. The water and wastewater sector has become interested in the implementation of this management technique in the last two decades, in order to improve the performance of the companies in the sector, an also the Romanian operators has started the benchmarking exercise, in order to find ways to improve their own efficiency. The results of the benchmark exercise are presented in the paper, and also first conclusions drawn from the first benchmarking process.