Vodacom is a joint service and coordination company for water and wastewater services for the Montenegrin Coast. It was established on 29 March 2005 after the Government of Montenegro (GoM) recognized the need for active work on upgrading water and sewage infrastructure on the Montenegrin coast.  Vodacom was then established by the GoM, and Bar, Kotor, Tivat, Budva i Herceg Novi Municipalities, as a Project Executing Agency (PEA), for the Water Supply and Sanitation Adriatic Coast Project. 

The total value of this Project being implemented by Vodacom in cooperation with the GoM, coastal Municipalities, and public water utilities, international consultants and contractors is Euro 150 million. Funds are secured through loans and grants of the German Development Bank (KfW), funds from budgets of the relevant coastal Municipalities, and the financial contribution of the GoM. In parallel with this investment project Vodacom is implementing another Project aimed at water utilities capacity development, whereby it becomes partner to the consultancies MACS and Sachsen Wasser in this field. Over the course of implementation of these projects Vodacom serves as a bond for cooperation and coordination of activities among the GoM, ministries, municipalities, water utilities, consultants, designers, contractors, donors, and creditors.

Vodacom’s work is based on the following fundamental values: knowledge and skills of employees, cooperation, accountability, innovation, initiative, and ethics.

 Vodacom’s activities

• Management of investment projects in the field of water supply and sanitation aimed at economic development and environmental protection of the Montenegrin coast,
• Management of water utilities capacity development project in order to raise their performance efficiency, and transform them into  modern utility service providers,
• Marketing activities aimed at public sensitisation about the preciousness of water resources, the need to conserve water, and efforts being taken at both local and regional level to upgrade community infrastructure, and raise citizens’ environmental awareness.

 Water utilities capacity development measures

Since 2004, Vodacom (in cooperation with the consultancy MASC from Frankfurt, and then from 2009 up to the late June 2012 with the company Sachsen Wasser from Leipzig) has implemented in two stages, a Project aimed at developing local public water utilities capacities. Vodacom has prepared ToRs for the consultants based on its own analyses and assessment of the condition of the local water utilities. This project was aimed at reaching desirable and possible levels of water utilities operation through increased performance efficiency. This Project resulted in reduced losses in the water distribution system, secured round-the-clock supply, reduced operating costs, improved collection efficiency, financial viability parameters, and customer service provision.  First real losses reduction project in water supply systems, Budva, Herceg Novi and Bar (Vodacom members) in accordance with  international competition results, successfully performed by HEIS Company from Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina). 

Continuous implementation of the Project enabled Vodacom to master knowledge and develop capacities in all project areas being the subject of a joint work with consultants, and continue providing independent consulting services to its members and other shareholders, as well as to be a local partner to international consulting companies.

 Leak detection, GIS and hydraulic modelling

The most influential component of enhancing technical and commercial performance of water utilities is a more efficient use of existing resources and reduction of losses and the amount of NRW. This component contributes to increasing supply efficiency, better water management, and financially sustainable performance, as well as to better conservation of natural resources of Montenegro.

In this sense, even since 2006. Vodacom has been working on developing and strengthening capacities of water utilities technical sectors in order to reach acceptable level of water losses in the water system and to develop all supporting tools for effective supply system management.  Over the course of this period Vodacom has been continuously and successfully working on:

• organizing specialist expert trainings at all levels of technical sector operation (leak detection, flow and pressure measurement by portable on-site devices, training in systematic – planning approach to leak detection and loss reduction by using results of on-site measurements), organizing trainings and workshops related to the use of supporting software tools such as GIS, and hydraulic models. Considering all this Vodacom has been organizing leak detection campaigns in all coastal water utilities trough several different methods and approaches: balance method, night measurement, pilot zoning, day inspection of the water supply system and water audit (performed by Djevad Koldžo NRW expert from HEIS). Also leak detection includes water meter inspection on the site (“test in the place”) as well as water meter data base inspection in the offce.       
• developing hydraulic models used to identify problem areas with detected losses, as well as bottlenecks in the system, 
• developing geo-information system (GIS) in the water utilities, members of Vodacom, that now ranks among the best developed geo-information systems of the supply network in Montenegro, and training of engineering staff  having received expert training to independently work on GIS system maintenance and development,
• provision of lacking pieces of measuring and safety equipment.