To improve customer service, Sri Lanka’s National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) has introduced a customer charter and quality circles.

In an interview with Ma. Christina Dueñas of the Asian Development Bank, 'Water Champion' M.A.M.S.L. Attanayake, Deputy General Manager for the Regional Support Centre - Central of NWSDB, explains how these innovations came about and what they have achieved.

As a result of the customer charter, Mr. Attanayake mentioned that the number of complaints had dropped by 60%, managers spent more time managing than firefighting since they could delegate more responsibilities, and staff were able to handle routine service requests and incidences without instructions from the managers. Customer satisfaction rating had also increased significantly.

Not all quality circles were sustained, but Attanayake gave one example where supply hours increased from 12 hours to 24 hours per day, water losses went down from 40% to 25%, and household connections increased significantly.

Related news:

• Changing Lives: Rural water schemes in Sri Lanka, Source South Asia, 03 Oct 2008;
• Sri Lanka: VAT on water for poor consumers, Source South Asia, 02 Oct 2008

Web site:NWSDB

Source: ADB, Dec 2008

Tags: capacity development, policies & legislation, south asia, water quality, water supply