Supplying Water Where It’s Needed Most: Lessons from Better With Water
Executive Exchange — Episode Feature

In this week’s Executive Exchange, Piers Clark sits down with Philippe De Roux, Chief Executive of Better With Water, to explore what it really takes for a utility to deliver safe, reliable water to some of the world’s poorest communities. Philippe’s journey is anything but conventional—spanning microcredit in Manila’s slums, a brief stint running petrol stations, and a decade operating a plumbing company in France. But this unusual combination of experience has shaped a model that is transforming access to water in some of the most challenging urban environments.

Better With Water now serves 55,000 people across cities in the Philippines and Bangladesh, operating as a “mini-utility” that manages the last mile of delivery where traditional utilities struggle to operate. Their approach blends technical rigour, deep community trust, and a level of proximity that makes daily meter reading and door-to-door collections not only possible, but effective. Philippe explains how social workers enter communities long before the plumbers arrive, helping to navigate local politics, land insecurity, and the presence of informal networks that often deter mainstream utilities. The result is a model with remarkably low non-revenue water in places where 80% losses are the norm, and payment reliability built on immediacy, transparency, and human relationships.

The conversation also highlights what larger utilities can learn from this work—from rapid leak detection to agile, community-centred operations—while offering a window into how hybrid structures (NGO + company) enable long-term resilience in volatile environments. Philippe closes on a personal note, sharing the advice that shaped his leadership: stay independent in spirit, trust your team, and let people innovate. Judging by Better With Water’s impact, he’s taken that advice to heart.

To hear the full conversation, listen to the episode now on the Executive Exchange.