Water Utility Turnaround Framework

Soppe, Gerhard; Janson, Nils; Piantini, Scarlett

doi:10.1596/30863

Cited by 16 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Studies have shown that 25-50% of treated water is considered NRW due to deteriorating water distribution infrastructure, leakages, faulty billing systems, illegal connections, inaccurate water pressure management, and errors in metering, among other factors. This surpasses the World Bank recommendation of 25% of the total water produced, with many countries recording NRWs exceeding 60% [27]. In developing countries, about 45 million m 3 of water is lost daily, representing over USD 3B annually [28,29].…”

Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 95%

GIS-Based Identification of Locations in Water Distribution Networks Vulnerable to Leakage

et al. 2023

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The detection of leakages in Water Distribution Networks (WDNs) is usually challenging and identifying their locations may take a long time. Current water leak detection methods such as model-based and measurement-based approaches face significant limitations that impact response times, resource requirements, accuracy, and location identification. This paper presents a method for determining locations in the WDNs that are vulnerable to leakage by combining six leakage-conditioning factors using logistic regression and vulnerability analysis. The proposed model considered three fixed physical factors (pipe length per junction, number of fittings per length, and pipe friction factor) and three varying operational aspects (drop in pressure, decrease in flow, and variations in chlorine levels). The model performance was validated using 13 district metered areas (DMAs) of the Sharjah Electricity and Water Authority (SEWA) WDN using ArcGIS. Each of the six conditioning factors was assigned a weight that reflects its contribution to leakage in the WDNs based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. The highest weight was set to 0.25 for both pressure and flow, while 0.2 and 0.14 were set for the chlorine and number of fittings per length, respectively. The minimum weight was set to 0.08 for both length per junction and friction factor. When the model runs, it produces vulnerability to leakage maps, which indicate the DMAs’ vulnerability classes ranging from very high to very low. Real-world data and different scenarios were used to validate the method, and the areas vulnerable to leakage were successfully identified based on fixed physical and varying operational factors. This vulnerability map will provide a comprehensive understanding of the risks facing a system and help stakeholders develop and implement strategies to mitigate the leakage. Therefore, water utility companies can employ this method for corrective maintenance activities and daily operations. The proposed approach can offer a valuable tool for reducing water production costs and increasing the efficiency of WDN.

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Section: Problem Statementmentioning

confidence: 95%

GIS-Based Identification of Locations in Water Distribution Networks Vulnerable to Leakage

et al. 2023

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“…On the one hand, they may be influenced by internal factors, such as the poor management of human resources or equipment, poor planning of maintenance and investment activities, or a lack of innovation and adaptation to new technologies. On the other hand, an inadequate economic policy, such as a low level of investment in infrastructure, for example the maintenance of low (populist) tariffs that do not cover the costs of drinking water production and wastewater treatment, can affect the performance of these utilities (Soppe, Janson, and Piantini, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Performance Measurement of Water and Sewerage Operators in Romania Through the Key Performance Index

Fülöp,

Fülöp

2023

ISF

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Both local communities and the government face a real challenge in measuring and improving the performance of water services. At the local, central, and European level, ensuring the population’s access to drinking water and sewage services is an extremely important objective, supported by the significant investments recently made in this sector. The improved performance of businesses in this sector plays a crucial role in achieving this primary objective. Between 2005 and 2010, as a first step in streamlining the activity in this sector, regional water and wastewater operators were established, providing services for the majority of the Romanian population. Although in theory this should have provided the advantage of an economy of scale, in reality it did not produce the expected results; unfortunately, most of these water and wastewater operators remained inefficient. This inefficiency has technical, economic, financial and organizational aspects, which can be monitored and improved with the help of certain key performance indicators. To guarantee access to water in good conditions and in the long term, it is crucial to improve the efficiency of the sector. The average price of drinking water has increased from 2.75 RON/m3 in 2014 to 5.99 RON/m3 in 2023, which means it has almost doubled. In this context, it is crucial to implement a performance measurement system to improve the efficiency and performance of water services. In this article, the authors identify and analyze the economic, financial and technical indicators that can be used as a basis of comparison for regional operators and can contribute to increasing performance. These indicators are designed in such a way as to eliminate the dysfunctions caused by the differences in size between the regional operators, and by creating a performance index suitable for water utilities, they make possible the adequate comparison of their performances.

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“…The primary route for expanding services in urban areas is through public utilities, but utilities are struggling to deliver reliable services to connected households let alone increase coverage (Trimble et al, 2016;World Bank, 2017;Soppe et al, 2018). Revenue collection has become a major stumbling block for utility performance (Ahluwalia, 2002;World Bank, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Financing Municipal Water and Sanitation Services in Nairobi's Informal Settlements

Coville¹,

Galiani²,

Gertler³

et al. 2021

Policy Research Working Papers

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We estimate the impacts of two interventions implemented as field experiments in informal settlements by Nairobi's water and sanitation utility to improve revenue collection efficiency and last mile connection loan repayment: (i) face-to-face engagement between utility staff and customers to encourage payment and (ii) contract enforcement for service disconnection due to nonpayment in the form of transparent and credible disconnection notices. While we find no effect of the engagement, we find large effects of enforcement on payment. We also find no effect on access to water, perceptions of utility fairness or quality of service delivery, on the relationships between tenants and property owners, or on tenant mental well-being nine months after the intervention. To counterbalance the increase in payments, property owners increased rental income by renting out additional space. Taken together these results suggest that transparent contract enforcement was effective at improving revenue collection efficiency without incurring large social or political costs.

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Water Utility Turnaround Framework

Cited by 16 publications

References 1 publication

GIS-Based Identification of Locations in Water Distribution Networks Vulnerable to Leakage

GIS-Based Identification of Locations in Water Distribution Networks Vulnerable to Leakage

The Performance Measurement of Water and Sewerage Operators in Romania Through the Key Performance Index

Financing Municipal Water and Sanitation Services in Nairobi's Informal Settlements

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