SERVICES & SOLUTIONS
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ROCKBlue Consultancy

Tackling the Global Water Crisis

Durable solutions to advance the future of WASH, today

ROCKBlue Consultancy is focused on solving the developing world’s biggest water and sanitation problems and we are uniquely positioned to do just that.

Our global roster of 120 industry specialists has the reach, experience, know-how, scale, resourcefulness and capabilities to be an effective partner...wherever and however our clients need it.

We are committed to helping you achieve your water and sanitation objectives with a broad range of solutions and service capabilities that can be applied to everything from utility operations to engineering and construction projects.

The water and sanitation industry is facing growing pressures in urban areas of developing nations as populations skyrocket. Everyone — local utilities to NGOs to multinational corporations — needs a partner with the expertise and capabilities to achieve their desired outcomes.

ROCKBlue's roster of specialists each have decades of experience in developing countries, and are recognized around the world for being the most capable and trusted team members in the water and sanitation space.

Our nonprofit low-overhead operating model means we pass along the cost savings to our clients in the form of lower fees than the private sector without sacrificing quality.

ROCKBlue is a proven reliable and effective partner with a track record of success working alongside water utilities, governments, municipalities, the private sector, NGOs and international financiers.

We understand and have the know-how to deliver on your specific needs to help you achieve your goals — from daily operations and maintenance to full lifecycle management, including emergency service interruptions, upgrades and construction projects.

Through strategic partnerships, ROCKBlue has built a powerful service and solutions ecosystem, providing access to valuable resources that drive transformation, encourage collaboration and deliver meaningful outcomes to clients.

Some of our partners, collaborators and affiliations

LEVERAGING LIQUID ASSETS

Rising to the Challenges Facing a Changing World

Water is our planet's most abundant yet precious resource. But in our ever-shifting global landscape, the water and sanitation industry has never faced as many challenges, especially in the developing world.

By 2030, the total number of people living in cities and towns will increase by 1 billion, and developing countries will be home to 80 percent of the world's urban population. A massive amount of water is needed to meet this fast-growing demand. At the same time, utility operating margins are tighter than ever and the need for flexibility is more critical than ever.

These changes make it imperative to balance the challenge of increasing operational efficiency and reducing costs, while providing affordable, reliable and safely managed clean water and basic sanitation services.

ROCKBlue's roster of expert specialists deliver effective water and sanitation solutions, helping clients to provide better service with greater efficiency and improved reliability, all at a lower cost.

We are equipped to assist you with everything from core operations management, maintenance and financial planning to best-in-class upgrades, retrofits and new engineering and construction projects.

130
SPECIALISTS
ROCKBlue has a roster of 130 world-class water and sanitation specialists committed to tackling the world's most pressing WASH problems.
350+
UTILITIES
Our core roster of technical, management and financial specialists have delivered solutions to more that 350 utilities in developing countries worldwide.
50
COUNTRIES
ROCKBlue's Online Lecture Series (OLS) of webinars — our in-house knowledge center — provides access to a network of WASH professionals in 50 countries.
22M+
LIVES
ROCKBlue's nonprofit work has helped our water utility partners bring safely managed clean water and basic sanitation to more than 22 million people.

WHAT WE DO

Our Services

ROCKBlue Consultancy's global water and sanitation team is made up of leading industry experts who rely on valuable lessons learned through hands-on local experience in developing countries and utilize our cross-organizational resources to help you solve your most difficult challenges. Our core competencies include:

- Operations & Maintenance (O&M)
- Water Resources Support
- Facility Startup Services
- Regulatory Reforms
- Non-Revenue Water
- Demand Management
- Capacity Building
- Human Resources
- Business & Master Planning
- Governance
- Organization Management
- Information Technology (IT)
- Public Outreach & Coordination
- Non-Sewered Sanitation Systems
- PPP & Restructuring
- Water Treatment
- Water Storage & Pumping
- Water Reuse System Planning
- Inflow & Infiltration E
- Wastewater Collection
- Wastewater Treatment and Disposal
- Environmental Studies
- Site Assessments
- Sustainability Planning
- Hydraulic Studies & Modeling
- Capacity & Efficiency Evaluations
- Rate Studies
- Metering
- Billing & Collection
- Accounting & Finance
- Payroll Services
- Finance Sourcing & Fundraising
- Value Engineering
- Cost Estimating
- Cost-Benefit Analysis
- Project Feasibility Studies
- Construction Project Management
- Construction Phase Services
- Construction Monitoring

Select Success Story Briefs

Our roster of WASH specialists bring the same quality results achieved in our nonprofit wing to the consultancy

ROCKBlue Provides Durable Operations Solutions

The challenge

Although the Kingdom of Lesotho, a small, mountainous country completely surrounded by South Africa, is a water-rich enclave, little of its freshwater supply reaches those with the most severe need. Making matters worse, the government-owned Water and Sewerage Company (WASCO) has faced challenges, including aging infrastructure creating supply issues, payment delinquencies creating cash flow problems, alack of agility in adopting new technology and capacity gaps in its management and operational personnel.

The solution

Since forming a partnership in 2016, ROCKBlue helped the water utility to overhaul its operations by adopting a holistic approach.

The outcomes

ROCKBlue partnered with the utility management for strategic planning and capacity building. This helped the utility in:

• Their development of proposals for funding infrastructure projects.

• Installation of bulk water meters at three critical distribution reservoirs to help combat non-revenue water (water lost to leakage or theft).

• The creation of district metering areas for quick water balance estimates

• Increasing production capacity through additional boreholes.

• Collecting 5% of its outstanding debt with 100% billing, while continuing service to its customers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ROCKBlue Helps Improve Utility Performance

The challenge

The Lilongwe Water Board (LWB), which provides service to 83% of the nearly one million people in and around Lilongwe City, Malawi, had a water production capability of 110,000 m3/day supplied from three water treatment plans and 23 boreholes, delivered through approximately 2,100 km of pipelines. Even so, supply was inadequate to meet increasing demand.

The solution

RockBlue partnered with LWB in 2019 with the goal of helping the utility achieve its goal of increasing water production, storage and transmission capacity, while improving financial performance.

The outcomes

ROCKBlue initially introduced AquaRating, an online self-assessment platform on utility performance, with the support of the Inter-American Development Bank, to establish baseline performance across eight areas of utility operation.

We then set about helping LWB work toward its goals of extending service to 100% of the population, maintaining 24/7 supply of water and maximize revenues by improving its collection efficiency.

Even during the slowdown of the COVID pandemic, with ROCKBlue's support the utility still managed to add nearly 92,000 new household connections and increase revenues by 1.5 percent.

We also advised LWB on its Emergency Response Plan (ERP) during the financial challenges of the pandemic, helping LWB to prepare a detailed economic assessment of the impacts of the pandemic and to host a partners conference to solicit funding from international financing partners to support the ERP.

WHO WE ARE

Meet the Leadership Team

Roberto Delgado

Managing Director

Roberto leads ROCKBlue Consultancy, the core of ROCKBlue’s outsourcing operations working with international clients and partners, such as multilateral development finance institutions, bilateral foreign aid agencies, international developments firms, global and regional engineering firms, and non-profits working in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). Roberto brings over twenty years of experience in infrastructure and international development in the public and private sectors. He has led teams and projects in Africa, Middle East, Asia, and North and Latin America. Roberto holds a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Peter Macy

Co-founder & President

Peter has four decades of engineering and management experience in all aspects of water supply, sanitation and wastewater. He served as Vice President and Africa Regional Manager for U.S. engineering firm CDM Smith before leaving to devote his full attention to ROCKBlue. He has worked within and for numerous public utilities in Mozambique, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Lesotho. Peter has managed millions of dollars of projects, has started and led country and regional offices, marketed mega proposals and served as a technical advisor for multiple sectors. Peter earned a bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR) from Syracuse University.

Satish Menon

Co-founder & Advisor

Satish has over 25 years of technical experience working on international infrastructure and institutional development projects related to water and wastewater. Over the past decade, he has led multidisciplinary international teams, while managing the delivery of a wide range of successful, sustainable projects in a number of countries including Jordan, Venezuela, Pakistan, Lesotho and Zambia. Satish brings a collaborative approach to projects and development that benefits clients, their institutions and donor agencies to achieve desired outcomes. Satish holds a master's degree in Environmental Engineering and a bachelor's in Civil Engineering from Michigan State University.

Richard Noth

Co-founder & WASH Specialist

Richard has over 40 years’ global experience as a management and financial advisor. He specializes in institutional development, finance and public private partnerships of utilities and infrastructure in developing countries in the fields of water, wastewater and sanitation. He directed 22 development projects and advised governments in 25 countries on a range of sustainable water utility issues. He offers extensive experience in financing infrastructure development programs, water projects and sanitation programs. He holds a master's in Public Administration from Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor's in Labor Management Relations from Pennsylvania State University.

Dennis Mwanza

Senior WASH Specialist

Dennis has had a long, successful career working with utilities in the developing world with stakeholders ranging from the Gates Foundation to the World Bank. He has also led numerous ground-breaking projects in the sector. Currently, he’s the Chief of Party of the USAID funded e-WASH project assisting water utilities in Nigeria. Prior to that, he was Chief of Party of USAID’s SUWASA (Sustainable Water and Sanitation for Africa) program based in Nairobi, Kenya, which was aimed at promoting sustainable water sector reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa. Dennis holds a Ph.D. in economic regulation of water and sanitation services in Africa, a master's in Civil Engineering and a bachelor's in Civil Engineering.

Karen Pallansch

Board Chairwoman

Karen has more than 30 years of experience in the water industry, having started her water career at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality as a senior environmental engineer. For the past 25 years, Karen has worked at Alexandria Renew Enterprises (AlexRenew), the water resource recovery facility serving the City of Alexandria, Virginia and parts of Fairfax County. Since 2005, she has served as chief executive officer. Karen has held board roles for a number of organizations, including the National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA) and WateReuse. Karen is a Board Certified Environmental Engineer and Registered Professional Engineer. She holds a master’s degree in Business Management from Texas A & M University.

Meet Our Experts

Our world-renowned roster of specialists have experience working in urban water and sanitation with hundreds of utilities and municipalities throughout the developing world.

Download Our Brochure Now