During the past decade, significant changes have been made in the regulatory framework governing water utilities in Canada, especially in the province of Ontario. Regulations issued under the authority of the Safe Drinking Water Act (2002) establish licensing requirements for municipal water systems that for the first time require the preparation and submission of financial plans (Ministry of the Environment, 2002). An important guiding principle for preparing financial plans is that water systems are to be financially self-sustainable (Ministry of the Environment, 2007). To realize the mandate of these new regulations, municipal water utilities require comprehensive decision-support tools to help in preparing shortterm (less than 10 years) and long-term (10 to 100 years) asset management plans based on the principle of financial sustainability. Rehan et al (2011) demonstrated that water and wastewater systems are complex, and interrelated systems are best modeled using the system dynamics (SD) approach. Rehan et al (2014aRehan et al ( , 2014b developed and implemented a wastewater utility SD managementdecision support tool that can be used to prepare long-term asset management plans based on the principle of financial sustainability. Rehan et al (2013) developed an SD water utility network management and financial planning model. This water SD model is different from previous SD models Rehan et al, 2011) in that it allows a water utility to investigate cash reserving, pay-as-you-go, and borrowing strategies. Other unique features are controls on the water fee growth as a function of service performance and household financial burden as a result of water-fee rate increases. In this study, the Rehan et al (2013) SD water model is populated and implemented in Stella V9.1.4 (by ISEE Systems) using data from a water utility in southern Ontario, Canada. Pertinent information about the case-study city is presented along with a methodology for parameterization of key model variables. The demonstration case-study water network is deemed to be in good condition but contains a small backlog of deteriorated cast-iron pipes. The focus of this study is to address two salient objectives in the context of financial sustainability criteria imposed by legislation: (1) why it may be necessary for a utility to maintain a fee-hike rate in excess of the inflation rate on its expenses and (2) how alternative management strategies, such as pay-as-you-go, borrowing, and capital reserving, can be compared and contrasted. To address these objectives, scenarios are presented as alternative management strategies and are evaluated in terms of measuring the effects on key variables within the infrastructure, finance, and consumer sectors. The merit of each management strategy is ranked in terms of its benefit to the utility and water users. Results of the model application are discussed, and conclusions are drawn.
DEMONSTRATION CASE STUDYFor this demonstration case study, data are synthesized from a utility that operates a water distribution ...
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