Benchmarking is increasingly adopted as a means for performance improvement in the public sector. In the Netherlands, umbrella organisations of different actors in the urban water chain (drinking water companies, municipalities, and water boards) have implemented their own benchmarking process. This parallel and apparently independent development gave rise to the concern that the overall efficiency of the water chain might decrease when actors focus only on their own performance indicators. Analysis of the three benchmarks revealed a gap between these indicators and the policy objectives set by the Dutch national government. To assess the stakes of uncoordinated action, the objectives and policy instruments of the three aforementioned actors plus drinking water consumers and the national government were identified and represented in causal models, which were then used to infer resource dependence and potential for synergy. The results show that the actors can significantly affect each other's performance, but also suggest that an overall win-win stragegy can be found.