project

The different drinking water customers

Drinking water utilities often direct their strategy and communication to the average customer, or to a small number of customer profiles. There is therefore a good chance that certain groups of individuals are not properly served. In this project of the Joint Research Programme of KWR and the water utilities (Waterwijs) it is the diversity of drinking water customers that is placed centre stage. We aim in this way to contribute to a more inclusive and fair service provision. We make use of the concept of marginalisation to clarify what we mean by inclusion and exclusion, and to investigate those factors that represent a risk of exclusion.

Inclusive service provision

In the Waterwijs customer research we not only look at the average customer, but we also take differences among customers into account. We build upon existing customer insights, pay attention to socio-demographic characteristics, and distinguish between different user types. In this project we focus specifically on customer groups that are often left out of the picture in the research and service provision. The goal is to understand how drinking water utilities can improve their service provision for these groups. This is of benefit not only to the customer, but also to the drinking water utility itself.

Target group in the picture

The project involves two phases.

  1. In the first phase we will speak to staff members of the drinking water utilities and study reports on customer perspectives. This will reveal which groups are currently covered comparatively less well. The focus will be on digital inclusion, that is, on people who are covered less well in the research and service provision because of digital barriers.
  2. In the second phase we will engage with this target group through interviews and focus groups. We will collect their experiences with the service provision of drinking water utilities.

Application in drinking water practice

The research outcomes will be summarised in a final report. We will conclude the project with a strategic session for drinking water-sector professionals. During this session we will not only share the insights produced by the research, but also work with digital-inclusion experts on identifying concrete courses of action. We will thus assist drinking water utilities in effectively applying the acquired knowledge in practice.