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Journal articles on the topic 'Water utilitie'
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1
Uslu, Berk, and Sunil K. Sinha. "Subsurface Utility Engineering for Drinking Water and Wastewater Utilities." International Journal of Engineering Research 4, no. 11 (November 1, 2015): 625–30. http://dx.doi.org/10.17950/ijer/v4s11/1110.
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Brito, Rita, Dália Loureiro, Maria Adriana Cardoso, Liliana Santos, and Maria Céu Almeida. "Rede de partilha de entidades gestoras de sistemas urbanos de água (iCITAGE.net)." Águas e Resíduos, no. 6 (April 8, 2020): 40–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.22181/aer.2020.0604.
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Kamarudin, Norbaizura, Wan Rosmanira Ismail, and Muhammad Azri Mohd. "Malaysian Water Utilities Performance Using Two-Stage DEA." International Journal of Applied Physics and Mathematics 5, no. 1 (2015): 60–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.17706/ijapm.2015.5.1.60-66.
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Kumar, Surender. "Unaccounted for water and the performance of water utilities: an empirical analysis from India." Water Policy 12, no. 5 (March 25, 2010): 707–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wp.2010.022.
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Conventional benchmarking measures focus mainly on water produced whilst ignoring water produced but not reaching consumers, unaccounted for water (UFW). Benchmarking must credit utilities for a reduction in UFW and improvements in service delivery. This study measures the performance of 20 urban water utilities using data from an Asian Development Bank survey of Indian water utilities in 2005. It applies directional distance function as an analytical tool for measuring performance of water utilities. The results reveal that at the mean level, Indian water utilities have the potential of increasing water delivery levels and reducing UFW by 20%. About half of that can be realized by changing the scale of operation. Metering of the water delivered and the length of the distribution network are major determinants of performance of water utilities.
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Merkel, W., N. Staben, J. Bräcker, P. Levai, M. Neskovic, D. Petry, and M. Weiss. "Structural conditions in German water supply." Water Supply 11, no. 5 (December 1, 2011): 596–604. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/ws.2011.107.
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Against the background of price controls for drinking water supply utilities in Germany, the comparability of utilities with regard to their specific structural conditions comes into focus. Relevant structural conditions were identified for the two main technical processes, namely water production (WP) and treatment, storage and distribution (TSD). A defined clustering process for comparable utilities has been developed. At the end of the process, groups of comparable utilities are obtained including information to what extent and in which structural condition these utilities are similar. These sets of relevant structural conditions and the clustering process were verified in a data assessment study with 45 German utilities. Applying the clustering process to the sample, WP and TSD peer groups of a certain utility are obtained, where structural similarities are above a certain threshold value. Performance and cost indicators of comparable utilities have been evaluated, providing interesting data on general performance levels and spread among individual utilities. The survey underlines the high standard of German water supply in terms of reliability, quality, customer service, sustainability and economic efficiency.
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Romano, Giulia, and Andrea Guerrini. "Paying Returns to Shareholders of Water Utilities: Evidence from Italy." Sustainability 11, no. 7 (April 5, 2019): 2033. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su11072033.
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The debate about the role of corporations with regard to water also involves the influence that paying returns to shareholders could have on the investment policy of utilities, influencing the development of new infrastructure or the renewal of existing ones. This study investigated the dividend policy of water utilities by analyzing the data of 128 Italian firms during 2009–2014. Data show that the majority of utilities do not distribute any return to shareholders. On average, large utilities pay more frequent returns than medium-sized and small ones. Moreover, water utilities that are part of a group, multi-utilities, and those located in the center of Italy pay more frequent returns than do others. Southern firms usually do not pay returns. As expected, privately owned water utilities pay dividends more frequently and have higher returns to equity. In all the observed years, at least one-third of such utilities paid returns. Empirical results provide water regulators, water utility managers, and stakeholders with information that can impact future regulatory and managerial decisions related to management and strategic model choices in the water industry and how these decisions affect investments to improve water quality, water quantity, and/or water services.
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Lavee, Doron, and Sefi Bahar. "Examining the economies of scale of water and sewage utilities in the urban sector: the case of Israel." Water Policy 19, no. 2 (December 27, 2016): 257–70. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wp.2016.095.
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This study applies econometric tools to examine the economies of scale of the water and sewage utilities corporation (utilities) in the urban sector in Israel, and to find whether reducing the number of utilities will maximize efficiency in the urban water sector. Using an econometric analysis of an elasticity Translog cost function, which allows the estimation of returns to scale, the authors examined the optimal size for water and sewage utilities in Israel, based on panel data of 51 utilities. According to the study's results, there is a distinct advantage of economies of scale in Israel's water utilities, and the current distribution of the urban water sector in Israel is characterized by inefficiency and high cost. The results indicate that reducing the number of utilities will achieve an increase in water quantities by utility, and the costs of water production will decline due to economies of scale.
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Carvalho, Pedro, Isabel Pedro, and Rui Cunha Marques. "The most efficient clusters of Brazilian water companies." Water Policy 17, no. 5 (March 17, 2015): 902–17. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wp.2015.148.
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Usually water utilities provide their services under natural monopoly, with few incentives to become efficient, therefore affecting customers in the form of expensive tariffs. Hence, it is extremely important to find out the sources of inefficiency. The present study aims to identify the most efficient water utility groups in Brazil. For this purpose, a robust non-parametric method was applied. The results show that the utilities that provide both drinking water and wastewater services, the local utilities, and the utilities with private participation are more efficient. Furthermore, this study proved that the utilities were more efficient before the regulatory framework had been implemented.
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Shibuya, Masao, Francesc Hernández-Sancho, and María Molinos-Senante. "Economic effects of the consolidation of water utilities in Japan." Water Supply 14, no. 5 (May 16, 2014): 909–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/ws.2014.050.
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Water utilities are affected by economies of scale. However, in Japan most water utilities are small-scale water services. Therefore, they face enormous difficulties in terms of financial and personnel resources. To take advantage of economies of scale, the consolidation of water utilities has been promoted since 1965 by Japanese water authorities. The measure has been successful to some extent; nevertheless, consolidation has not progressed in recent years as was expected. This paper identifies the main barriers that hinder the consolidation of water utilities in Japan and describes the new promotion plan for the consolidation of water utilities developed by the Japan Water Works Association. To assess the economic effects of consolidation, an empirical application is carried out involving four real Japanese cities. The results will be useful to water authorities considering consolidation in the long-term planning of urban water management.
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Gupta, Shreekant, Surender Kumar, and Gopal K. Sarangi. "Measuring the performance of water service providers in urban India: implications for managing water utilities." Water Policy 14, no. 3 (January 2, 2012): 391–408. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wp.2011.109.
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This study assesses the efficiency of the urban water supply system in 27 selected Indian cities. It applies data envelopment analysis (DEA) as an analytical tool to measure technical efficiency. Cities are categorized into different groups according to the management structure of their water utilities. The results show that within groups, the utilities that are managed by ‘municipal corporations (MCs) and parastatals', with a certain amount of functional autonomy, perform better in comparison to the group ‘MCs and government’ and thus, strengthen the hypothesis that functional autonomy in management leads to better performance of the water utilities. Moreover, the results also have implications for urban domestic water pricing. We find that most water utilities are operating under decreasing returns to scale (DRS), implying that water should be priced at a marginal cost of supply.
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Mol, S. S. M., J. M. Kornman, A. J. Kerpershoek, and A. W. C. van der Helm. "Opportunities for public water utilities in the market of energy from water." Water Science and Technology 63, no. 12 (June 1, 2011): 2909–15. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.2011.493.
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An inventory is made of the possibilities to recover sustainable energy from the water cycle by identifying different water flows in a municipal environment as a sustainable energy source. It is discussed what role public water utilities should play in the market of energy from water. This is done for Waternet, the public water utility of Amsterdam, by describing experiences on two practical applications for aquifer thermal energy storage and energy recovery from drinking water. The main conclusion is that public water utilities can substantially contribute to the production of sustainable energy, especially by making use of heat and cold from the water cycle. Public water utilities have the opportunity to both regulate and enter the market for energy from water.
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Nagpal, Tanvi, Matthew Eldridge, and Ammar A. Malik. "Global water access fund: a new idea to bridge operations and maintenance shortfalls for the poorest water utilities." Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development 9, no. 4 (September 16, 2019): 774–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/washdev.2019.248.
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Abstract Reaching the sustainable development goal for water and sanitation access will require significant investments. For some utilities, the private sector or blended public–private investments offer opportunities to expand and improve services, but this is not an option for many utilities serving the poorest households. These utilities are often unable to cover their current operations and maintenance costs and have limited capacity to increase tariffs in order to do so. Yet supporting these utilities is crucial to expanding access to safe drinking water for the majority of citizens. We argue that a new solution is needed to provide utilities serving the poorest with sufficient subsidies to cover their operational costs, stabilize service, and make performance improvements to advance towards sustainable operation. This article presents a potential solution which blends funding from global philanthropy, solidarity levies, and local matching funds. Such a fund, if structured to reflect the principles of results-based funding, transparency, sustainability, and performance improvement, can make a meaningful impact on water access.
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Al-Assa'd, Tamer, and Johannes Sauer. "The performance of water utilities in Jordan." Water Science and Technology 62, no. 4 (August 1, 2010): 803–8. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.2010.907.
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This paper aims to measure the relative performance of Jordan's water utilities for water sector (WS) and wastewater sector (WWS), and to investigate the major factors behind their inefficiencies. DEA (non-parametric method) and Tobit model (parametric method) were used at two stages. At the first stage DEA was used to evaluate the utilities' efficiency and to investigate the utilities' scale effect on efficiency. At the second stage Tobit model (regression) is applied to determine the impact of the non-controllable factors on utilities' inefficiencies where the efficiency score is the dependent variable in the regression. The results of DEA showed that there is a potential to reduce inputs level: water supply and operational expense (OPEX) for WS, and treated wastewater and OPEX for WWS, by around 15–20 and 23–27%, respectively. Aqaba and Jarash utilities are the most efficient utilities in the WS, while it is Amman utility in the WWS. The utility size has relatively moderate effect on the relative performance. It is concluded that the medium utility size for WS and large utility size for WWS is the most appropriate. Tobit model results indicate that commercialization activities have a clear positive impact on efficiency improvement for both sectors.
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Duarte-Vera, Alejandra Ester, Julien Vanhulst, and Eduardo Antonio Letelier-Araya. "Tensiones de la Gobernanza comunitaria de servicios sanitarios rurales en territorios periurbanos (Chile)." Revista Urbano 24, no. 44 (November 30, 2021): 112–21. http://dx.doi.org/10.22320/07183607.2021.24.44.09.
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Unlike the private concession model applied in urban zones, rural water sanitation services in Chile are managed by rural drinking water (RDW) committees or cooperatives, under a community governance model. This article seeks to understand the tensions and conflicts faced by RDW community governance in the peri-urban territories of regional capitals, which are at the frontier of the private drinking water management model. Based on a political ecology and hybrid governance approach, this research proposes the hypothesis that, on facing urban expansion and water scarcity, the neoliberal institutional framework tends to favour drinking water market governance in peri-urban territories. With this aim, and through semi-structured interviews and participatory observation, focusing on three RDW cases located in the peri-urban zone of Talca, this study develops a critical discourse analysis of community managers and government regulators, identifying their perceptions and positions on current socio-ecological transformations, and community governance tensions. Consistent with the proposed hypothesis, from discourse analysis, it is possible to infer the potential risks of privatization, derived from the implementation of Law No. 20,998, which regulates rural water sanitation services.
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Gunnarsdóttir, M. J., S. M. Gardarsson, and J. Bartram. "Icelandic experience with water safety plans." Water Science and Technology 65, no. 2 (January 1, 2012): 277–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.2012.801.
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The aim of this study was to investigate accumulated experience with water safety plans in one of the first countries to adopt systematic preventive management for drinking-water safety. Water utilities in Iceland have had a legal obligation since 1995 to implement a systematic preventive approach to secure safety of drinking water and protect public health. The water utilities responded by implementing either an adapted HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) model for larger water utilities or a simpler five step model for smaller water utilities. The research was carried out at 16 water utilities that serve about two-thirds of the population of Iceland. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used with the aim of analysing if and what benefits water safety plans bring for water utilities and what is needed for successful implementation and operation of such systems. The results of the study show that numerous benefits and even the process of going through the implementing process were considered to be of advantage and change the attitude of the staff and the utility culture. Some obstacles and shortcomings came to light, such as lack of documentation and lack of regular internal and external audit. There was little communication with the public, although some mentioned that good public relations are important to succeed with water safety plans. Many important elements of success were revealed of which intensive training of staff and participation of staff in the whole process are deemed the most important. It is also important to have simple and well-structured guidelines, and good cooperation with the health authorities.
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Ajia, F. O. "Examining adaptation using the Message Actor Channel (MAC) model of communicative water practices." Water Supply 18, no. 4 (October 6, 2017): 1318–28. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/ws.2017.200.
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Abstract Water utilities rely on technological interventions to achieve household water efficiency. This practice is critiqued as seeking to appeal to the financial interests implied by people's role as customers rather than to achieve behavioural change in householders. A policy analysis reveals that although not prominently evidenced by some water utilities, public engagement is key to long-term demand reduction. This paper presents a systematic review of the demand management literature, specifically outlining key theoretical considerations for public engagement in relation to reducing water demand and their translation into practice in utilities. The aim is to demonstrate the use of a framework for examining engagement in utilities. Findings show that demand management interventions need to exploit: (1) effective frames for messages, (2) the diversity of the public, and (3) communication mediums that facilitate feedback. These insights informed the development of the MAC (Message Actor Channel) model of communicative water practices further used in this study to review public engagement plans for household water efficiency in selected UK water utilities based on processes described in their 2014 water resources management plans. Findings will inform the next stages of a doctoral study that will assess utilities' field engagement of households to reduce water use.
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Amjad, Urooj Quezon, Fernanda Dalcanale, Georgia Kayser, Peggy Bentley, and Jamie Bartram. "Evidence-based decision-making on water quality in domestic water supply in Malawi, Ecuador, and Brazil." Water Policy 20, no. 3 (November 23, 2017): 530–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wp.2017.184.
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Abstract Scholars and practitioners advocate evidence-based decision-making (EBDM) because facts lead to beneficial outcomes. At the same time, EBDM to reduce risks in water quality is under-studied. We examine types of decision-making by water utilities and government agencies, and the nature and origin of evidence available to them in their work on delivering safe drinking water to households. Using qualitative content analysis, we comparatively analyze water utilities and government agencies in Malawi, Ecuador, and Brazil. The results show that the water utilities perform combinations of decision-making types on water quality such as implementation, intelligence-gathering, and evaluation and choice, while government agencies perform more intelligence gathering. Sources and types of information are mainly water consumers, guidelines for water quality standards, and self-monitoring from water utilities. The analysis is useful in establishing a foundation for developing evidence-based management within water supply services, and potentially other water resources management activities.
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Zanfei, Ariele, Andrea Menapace, and Maurizio Righetti. "An artificial intelligence approach for managing water demand in water supply systems." IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science 1136, no. 1 (January 1, 2023): 012004. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1136/1/012004.
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Abstract Water demand management is essential for water utilities, which have the critical task of supplying drinking water from water sources to end-users through the distribution network. Therefore, the water utilities have to make decisions for the current and future functioning of the water distribution system. In this context, the artificial intelligence approach with data-driven methods can be used to develop powerful tools to improve overall water management. In fact, data-driven methods can model water demands for plenty of tasks and applications such as demand forecasting or anomaly detection. In this work, we propose and discuss a practical application of an artificial neural network to model the urban water demand of a water supply system. The flexibility of the proposed method allows the prediction of water demand on different horizons. Moreover, this developed model can effectively support water utilities on different operational schedules and decision tasks.
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Burlingame, G. A., and E. D. Mackey. "Philadelphia obtains useful information from its customers about taste and odour quality." Water Science and Technology 55, no. 5 (March 1, 2007): 257–63. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.2007.187.
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Customers are sensitive to the flavour of water. Customers evaluate drinking water based on their expectations, on experiences with their usual drinking water and on experiences with alternative waters. The Philadelphia Water Department provides one example of success in developing a better understanding of customer perceptions and attitudes about tap water taste and odour. Philadelphia found that customers do communicate in ways that water utilities can understand. Water utilities can enhance that communication and collect useful data. In addition, water utilities can characterise their tap water flavour, track it for changes and correlate changes to customer complaints.
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Dickinson, M. A. "The California Urban Water Conservation Council: a consensus partnership for water conservation." Water Supply 3, no. 3 (June 1, 2003): 281–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/ws.2003.0037.
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California, perhaps more than any other of the United States, has been a leader in water efficiency experiments. It adopted uniform efficient plumbing standards in 1978 for showerheads and faucets and the same for water closets in 1992. Comprehensive water management planning was adopted in 1983 for all water agencies serving more than 3,000 connections or 3,000 people, and in 1991, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by major water utilities and environmental groups statewide - pledging to implement standardized water efficiency programs called “Best Management Practices” in an attempt to help save the dying Bay-Delta Estuary. The California Urban Water Conservation Council, created by this Memorandum, is a non-profit NGO formed to oversee the Best Management Practices and to enforce the terms of the Memorandum. Since the historic signing of this Memorandum ten years ago, the Council has become a national example of consensus partnership on water efficiency. Water utilities and environmental groups work together on defining programs for water conservation, not as adversaries fighting each other in the press or in the courtroom. Technical assistance provided by Council staff helps utilities plan and implement conservation projects. This paper will outline national programs and will focus specifically on the Council partnership, which has resulted in benefits to water utilities, environmental groups, and state governmental agencies alike.
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Hunaidi, Osama, and Alex Wang. "A new system for locating leaks in urban water distribution pipes." Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal 17, no. 4 (July 1, 2006): 450–66. http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/14777830610700928.
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PurposeTo introduce a new, low‐cost and easy‐to‐use leak detection system to help water utilities improve their effectiveness in locating leaks. The paper also presents an overview of leakage management strategies including acoustic and other leak detection techniques.Design/methodology/approachThe design approach was based on the use personal computers as a platform and enhanced signal processing algorithms. This eliminated the need for a major component of the usual hardware of leak pinpointing correlators which reduced the system's cost; made it easy to use, and improved the effectiveness of locating leaks in all types of pipes.FindingsEffectiveness of the new leak detection system for pinpointing leaks was demonstrated using real world examples. The system has promising potential for all water utilities, including small and medium‐sized ones and utilities in developing countries.Practical implicationsThe leak detection system presented in the paper will help all water utilities, including small and medium‐sized ones and utilities in developing countries, to save water by dramatically improving their effectiveness in locating leaks in all types of pipes.Originality/valueThe paper presents information about a new effective system for locating leaks in water distribution pipes. Effective leak detection tools are needed by water utilities worldwide.
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Correia, Tânia, and Rui Cunha Marques. "Performance of Portuguese water utilities: how do ownership, size, diversification and vertical integration relate to efficiency?" Water Policy 13, no. 3 (November 9, 2010): 343–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wp.2010.032.
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This research applies the stochastic frontier analysis benchmarking method to measure the performance of the water sector in Portugal. It estimates a multiproduct translog cost function in order to study the efficiency of the water and sewerage services, using an unbalanced panel comprising 68 Portuguese water utilities for the biennium 2004–2005. The sample is formed by concessionaire companies, municipal companies and semi-autonomous utilities which represent approximately 61% of the Portuguese population, around 6.4 million inhabitants. The water utilities studied have a satisfactory level of efficiency (89% on average). The study points to the assumption that private utilities are, on average, more efficient than public utilities and that there are benefits if the companies specialize in providing a single activity. It also leads to the conclusion that there are increasing economies of scale and decreasing economies of scope associated with the Portuguese water sector.
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Marques, Rui Cunha, and Pedro Simões. "Revisiting the Comparison of Public and Private Water Service Provision: An Empirical Study in Portugal." Water 12, no. 5 (May 21, 2020): 1477. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w12051477.
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The controversy between the performance of public and private ownership of water and wastewater services is common worldwide. In most cases, this discussion is biased due to ideological issues or insufficiency or inconsistency of information. This study aims to compare the performance of private water utilities with that of public water utilities, using rich, robust, and audited information from Portuguese operators. The benchmarking exercise focuses on three distinct areas, namely, the efficiency and effectiveness of the investments made, the quality of service provided, and the tariffs and prices implemented. From the analysis performed, it is concluded that, on average, the performance of private water utilities exceeds that of public water utilities, and prejudice in most cases is unjustified regarding private ownership. Anyway, water, as an essential service, should always be provided, regardless of utility ownership.
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Gallego-Ayala, J., C. Dimene, A. Munhequete, and R. Amos. "Assessing the performance of urban water utilities in Mozambique using a water utility performance index." Water SA 40, no. 4 (October 14, 2014): 665. http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/wsa.v40i4.12.
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Gage, G., S. Helmcke, and O. Prigent. "The 21st Century Water Utility Initiative: how to boost operational performance of water utilities by up to 20%." Water Science and Technology 68, no. 7 (October 1, 2013): 1487–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.2013.210.
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The 21st Century Water Utility Initiative is a powerful and innovative approach to help water utilities assess their current operational performance, identify improvement actions and track impact year after year. First success cases suggest that cost reductions range from 10 to 20% within 1–3 years, with improved customer satisfaction. This approach can help water utilities in three ways. First, its benchmarking module focusses on cost drivers at a granular level, not only at an asset level, but also by profit and loss line or activity. Second, it is coupled with onsite diagnostics to understand the causes of underperformance and identify improvement ideas. Third, its transformation programme makes operational changes stick through a combination of measures that address management infrastructure and mindsets and behaviour. In short, the Initiative helps utilities identify improvement potential, seize the prize, and translate it into a transformation programme to drive sustainable implementation. This highly structured, standardised approach addresses the needs of both small and large utilities.
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Carriço, Nelson, Bruno Ferreira, André Antunes, Cédric I. C. Grueau, Raquel Barreira, Ana Mendes, Dídia I. C. Covas, Laura Monteiro, João Filipe Santos, and Isabel Sofia Brito. "An Information System for Infrastructure Asset Management Tailored to Portuguese Water Utilities: Platform Conceptualization and a Prototype Demonstration." Systems 11, no. 2 (February 7, 2023): 85. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/systems11020085.
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This paper describes a new information system developed as part of the Portuguese R&D project DECIdE. The project aimed at the development of a platform for infrastructure asset management tailored to Portuguese water utilities. The platform allows the integration of different data from several information systems of the water utilities and includes several tools for the performance assessment of the water supply systems in terms of water losses, energy efficiency and quality of service (i.e., water and energy balances and key performance indicators). The developed platform was tested with data from five small to medium size Portuguese water utilities with different maturity levels in terms of technological and human resources. The obtained results are very promising because the platform allows for periodic system performance assessment which constitutes an important part of the infrastructure asset management for small and medium-sized water utilities.
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Robles-Velasco, Alicia, María Rodríguez-Palero, Jesús Muñuzuri, and Luis Onieva. "Sustainable Development and Efficiency Analysis of the Major Urban Water Utilities in Spain." Water 14, no. 9 (May 9, 2022): 1519. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w14091519.
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In Spain, the water supply service is a municipal responsibility and in general is a sector without competitors. For this reason, an efficiency analysis attains greater significance. This study uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to estimate the efficiency of different urban water utilities. An extensive data search, where several variables such as the capital expenditure, the cost of material, or the labor have been recorded, has allowed evaluating the relative efficiency of the most important Spanish water distribution networks in using their resources. Furthermore, their sustainable efficiency has also been evaluated by including a variable representing the percentage of water losses. Results reveal the weaknesses of inefficient utilities and help to detect potential aspects that these companies should improve. For instance, there is an evident incorrect management of the costs of material by many urban water utilities, which does not happen with the labor. Additionally, the most efficient water utilities regarding the sustainable efficiency help to discover target percentages of water losses for the inefficient ones.
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Ehrhardt, David, and Nils Janson. "Can regulation improve the performance of government-controlled water utilities?" Water Policy 12, S1 (March 1, 2010): 23–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wp.2010.112.
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This paper provides evidence on whether regulation can improve the performance of government-controlled water utilities. While other studies have examined whether private participation combined with regulation can improve the performance of government-controlled water utilities, there has been little research on whether regulation alone can improve performance. This paper examines five case studies on water utility reform in Latin America and the Caribbean. In each case study, a regulatory regime designed for private companies was applied to a government-controlled utility. Assessing performance across a number of indicators, the evidence shows that performance was as likely to deteriorate as to improve during periods of regulation of government-controlled utilities. This contrasts with the evidence of improvement following reforms that combined regulation with private participation. The findings suggest that conventional regulation may be of little use in government-controlled utilities. Conventional regulation is designed to prevent a profit-maximizing utility from raising tariffs above reasonable cost-recovery levels. Government controlled utilities, however, are not commercially motivated and face systematic incentives for short-termism in tariff-setting. Therefore, limiting monopoly profits is not usually the problem that needs to be addressed. We conclude that conventional regulation of a government-controlled utility is not useful in isolation. However, regulatory tools can complement governance reforms. One approach may be to adapt conventional regulatory tools so as to help citizens judge utilities' performance. Such an approach would help increase government accountability for the performance of government-controlled utilities.
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Abdelghany, Mohamed, and Mohamed Abdel-Monem. "Balanced scorecard model for water utilities in Egypt." Water Practice and Technology 14, no. 1 (January 16, 2019): 203–16. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wpt.2019.006.
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Abstract Water utilities in Egypt are facing difficulties in managing the numerous indicators generated from the different departments. The increasing number of indicators and factors cause distraction and difficulties to interpreting the causes of problems, time wasting in analyzing redundant and unnecessary information, and delays in taking effective decisions. The BSC (Balanced Score Cards) technique has been utilized by many international utilities as the most influential multidimensional performance management system worldwide. This paper developed a new BSC model in cooperation with experts and managers to help decision makers managing water utilities' performance efficiently. The proposed model is based on the Egyptian Water and Wastewater Regulatory Agency performance indicators. In addition, new indicators have been developed to integrate all indicators that might affect overall utility performance. The proposed model will provide the utilities' managers with a fast but comprehensive view of the utility's performance. It also can be used by the regulatory agency as an evaluation and ranking tool for different water providers on the national level.
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Schwartz, Klaas. "The reform of public water utilities: successful utility reform efforts as punctuated equilibria." Water Policy 11, no. 4 (August 1, 2009): 401–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wp.2009.062.
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The reform of public water utilities has received increasing attention over the past decade. In this paper, the reform paths of five public water utilities from five different developing countries are compared. This paper finds that for each case, an external event or crisis brought the issue of water services high on to the political agenda, leading to a window of opportunity in which relatively radical reforms could be implemented. However, as political support for continued reforms withered, performance improvements became difficult to sustain. Without continued political support, performance improvements can be followed by a relapse to poor performance.
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lo Storto, Corrado. "Performance Evaluation of Water Services in Italy: A Meta-Frontier Approach Accounting for Regional Heterogeneities." Water 14, no. 18 (September 15, 2022): 2882. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w14182882.
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Data relative to the water services industry in Italy indicate that there is a serious infrastructure gap between the southern regions and isles and the rest of the country. In these geographical areas, water utilities are provided with substantial public grants from the central and local governments to support investments necessary to mitigate the infrastructure divide by increasing capacity and improve service quality. This paper implements a meta-frontier non-parametric approach based on a data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the efficiencies of 71 Italian water utilities, accounting for the differentiated contexts in which they operate. A short-term perspective was assumed to estimate efficiency, considering the production factors associated with the infrastructure assets as non-discretionary inputs in the specification of the meta-frontier model. The results showed that water utilities operating in the southern regions and isles suffer from an efficiency gap in comparison to those in the northern and central regions. The average efficiency gap was 9.7%, achieving 24.9% in the worst case. Moreover, a more in-depth analysis focusing on the water utilities in the southern regions and isles indicated that scale inefficiencies might be an important determinant of such an efficiency gap. Indeed, slightly more than 69% of the water utilities operated at increasing returns to scale. Evidence from this study raises concern about the appropriate structure of the Italian water service industry and, particularly, the optimal size of the utilities and the financial sustainability of water services in the southern regions and isles.
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Cardoso, M. A., A. Poças, M. S. Silva, R. Ribeiro, M. C. Almeida, R. S. Brito, S. T. Coelho, and H. Alegre. "Innovation results of IAM planning in urban water services." Water Science and Technology 74, no. 7 (June 20, 2016): 1518–26. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.2016.291.
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The requirement to provide urban water services continuously while infrastructures are ageing, imposes the need for increasingly sustainable infrastructure asset management (IAM). To achieve and maintain adequate levels of service, the AWARE-P IAM methodology has been applied in collaborative projects launched by the National Civil Engineering Laboratory, in partnership with IST (Technical University of Lisbon), Addition (software company) and several water utilities. The objective of these projects is to support urban water utilities in the development, implementation and maintenance of IAM plans. To guarantee the success of IAM planning, following the AWARE-P IAM methodology, utilities are required to: consider that the infrastructure has system behaviour and lifespan is indefinite and guarantee the full-alignment of IAM planning with organisation objectives. By analysing the strategic and tactical plans of participating utilities, the proposed methodology principles are discussed and supported. The main innovation results from the implementation of IAM planning are also presented and discussed, including the challenges of setting up an IAM process, together with the major benefits and drawbacks that come up when developing IAM plans. The results were demonstrated by the effective implementation of 16 strategic and 14 tactical IAM plans by the participating utilities.
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Romano, Giulia, Lucio Masserini, and Andrea Guerrini. "Does water utilities' ownership matter in water pricing policy? An analysis of endogenous and environmental determinants of water tariffs in Italy." Water Policy 17, no. 5 (February 28, 2015): 918–31. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wp.2015.016.
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Owing to the growing importance of efficient water management, it has become crucial to understand water utilities' characteristics and the environmental factors affecting water pricing, so as to provide guidance to policy-makers. The analysis of factors influencing water tariffs is a challenging task in a context in which companies providing the service are characterized by different ownership features. Moreover, environmental factors and companies' characteristics may simultaneously influence both the decision to privatize the service and the water tariff level. Using a treatment effects model, where privatization is considered as an endogenous binary treatment variable, this paper analyzes whether and how certain relevant variables affect the tariffs levied by water utilities in Italy. The results show that higher tariffs are set in order to cover a greater amount of investments; furthermore, abundant water availability, measured by the average annual rainfall, significantly reduces prices. The data surprisingly show that tariffs are higher where the income level is lower. Significantly, after accounting for the endogeneity due to the fact that water firms are not randomly distributed between totally publicly or not totally publicly owned, our results seem to suggest that ownership does not influence the tariffs levied by water utilities.
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Cagno, E., P. Garrone, and A. Neri. "Sewage sludge management options and civil society stakeholders’ influence: first evidence from Italian cases." IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1196, no. 1 (October 1, 2021): 012006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1757-899x/1196/1/012006.
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Abstract Sewage sludge management is a pivotal process in the path toward sustainability, broadening the scope of wastewater treatment from removing pollutants to recycle and recover resources. Water utilities can choose among several management options and treatment technologies. The paper focuses on the possible influence of civil society stakeholders on the decision-making process of water utilities, and to investigated it, inductive case studies were conducted in Italian water utilities adopting different management options. The analysis allowed us to capture the richness of observations and make interesting variables possible shaping the relationship emerged, as the role of regulatory uncertainty. The first results show how the investigated water utilities look at other Countries for robust solutions and select the less risky in terms of civil society’s acceptance. Communication and involvement of civil society appear to be an important asset to mitigate possible negative relationships.
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Yudianto, Erwan, and Lily Endah Diansari. "ANALISIS KAPASITAS SUPLAI AIR BERSIH BAGI PELANGGAN UPTD PENGELOLAAN AIR MINUM (PAM) DI PERUMNAS GRIYA SEJAHTERA." JURNAL ILMIAH BERING'S 7, no. 02 (October 5, 2020): 51–54. http://dx.doi.org/10.36050/berings.v7i02.277.
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The fulfillment of The clean Water needs residents of Perumnas Griya Sejahtera, Pagaralam City managed by the UPTD Publis Water Utilities (PAMS). The water supply from the source of water derived from the intake Gunung Dempo, Antan Delapan. Perumnas Griya Sejahtera was became a customer of UPTD Publis Water Utilities (PAMS) since 2018. To that year, It was registered 95 domestic connections. In the following years there was an enhancemet, in 2019 was 167 connections and in 2020 was 254 connections. But for non domestic connection there was only 1 connection. The research aimed to determine the capacity of streamed water supply to Perumnas Griya Sejahtera Pagaralam City now and to know the sufficient of clean water needs for the next 10 years (2030). The study used arithmetic methods, geometry and last-square. Based on the results of the analysis was known that the water discharge UPTD Publis Water Utilities (PAMS) for Perumnas Griya Sejahtera was 1,974 liters/sec or 5.287.161,6 liters/month. Total Clean water needs of Perumnas Griya Sejahtera customers in 2030 was 6,469 liters/sec or 17.322.589,2 liter/month. So that it could be deduced water discharge UPTD Publis Water Utilities (PAMS) for Perumnas Griya Sejahtera was not enough for the customers Perumnas Griya Sejahtera until the year 2030.
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Ferreira da Cruz, Nuno, Rui Cunha Marques, Giulia Romano, and Andrea Guerrini. "Measuring the efficiency of water utilities: a cross-national comparison between Portugal and Italy." Water Policy 14, no. 5 (April 28, 2012): 841–53. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wp.2012.103.
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All over the world, governments are compelling water utilities to improve their efficiency and productivity through reforms and tougher regulatory tools. Despite the different strategies and approaches, the goals remain the same: to make the whole sector more efficient, to curb the profits and ‘quiet life’ of water utilities and pass the productivity gains to customers through reduced prices or better environmental protection and quality of service. The water sectors in Portugal and Italy underwent deep reforms in the 1990s, in pursuit of higher levels of performance. Therefore, there is added interest in measuring the performance of water utilities in these two Mediterranean countries. We assess their performance using composite (global) indicators on a sample of 88 water utilities, for the year 2007. While we compare the performance of the two countries in this sector we also try to identify the impact of the ownership structure on efficiency. Finally, this paper discusses the benchmarking results of our research and draws some policy implications.
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Chang, Jian, Wanhua Li, Yaodong Zhou, Peng Zhang, and Hengxin Zhang. "Impact of Public Service Quality on the Efficiency of the Water Industry: Evidence from 147 Cities in China." Sustainability 14, no. 22 (November 16, 2022): 15160. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su142215160.
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Nowadays, water service marketization has become a global trend, and the quality of public services has gradually become an important factor affecting the input and output of urban water utilities. This paper defines the connotation of service quality at the technical and public aspects innovatively, builds on the service quality system of water utilities, establishes the relationship between the quality and output efficiency model, and studies the impact of service quality on the efficiency of water utilities. Then, based on 147 cities’ water supply data during the 2005–2016 period in China, the data envelopment analysis model and Tobit panel data model were used in the empirical research to measure the efficiency characterized by the quality dimension. The results show that: (1) The service quality of the water industry is reflected in two aspects: technical and publicity. At the technical level, the service quality of the water industry can be represented by the supply capacity of water and infrastructure, and at the public level, by the penetration rate. (2) The overall comprehensive efficiency of urban water utilities in China is in the middle level of 0.5–0.7, the scale efficiency is at a high level of 0.8–1, and the pure technical efficiency is relatively low. The opportunity cost of maintaining service quality in China’s water sector is 5.21% of the potential output. (3) Public service quality is significantly positively correlated with the efficiency of China’s water utilities, and the improvement of service quality will promote the improvement of efficiency.
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Motum, R. "Taste and odour research: a utility's perspective." Water Science and Technology 55, no. 5 (March 1, 2007): 371–73. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.2007.201.
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Tastes and odours issues constitute not only a rich field for research, but also a major challenge for water utilities. Addressing such problems requires sustained research programmes and the development of long-term proactive control measures; individual water utilities have found this hard to achieve, but collaborative approaches are proving successful. This is highlighted by taste and odours incidents in the 1990s in the Lake Ontario region that led to the formation of the Ontario Water Works Research Consortium. This collaboration of utilities with scientists and technical expertise in universities and government has enabled the linking of resources to a far more extensive programme than individual utilities could conduct, avoiding duplication of work, and providing a central mechanism for effective public outreach.
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Aguilar-Benitez, Ismael, and Jean-Daniel Saphores. "Public accountability and performance of two border water utilities." Water Policy 12, no. 2 (November 9, 2009): 203–19. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wp.2009.032.
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We analyze the performance of two water utilities located at the USA–Mexico border with a focus on public accountability. We evaluate selected performance indicators and explain how public accountability mechanisms can be associated with those outcomes. We find strong hierarchical accountability relationships between policymakers and water services providers but weak feedback mechanisms from customers to policymakers; moreover, structural barriers to political accountability resulting in weak accountability mechanisms may explain different facets of the relatively poor performance of both water utilities. Our findings suggest the need for these water utilities to build a closer relationship with their customers and to implement customer service indicators to track their performance.
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Dimova, Galina, Sonya Dimitrova, Irina Kostova, Svetlana Lazarova, Irina Ribarova, Dean Stoyanov, Radoslav Tonev, Emil Tsanov, and Dobril Valchev. "The Readiness of the Water Utilities in Bulgaria for Transition toward a Circular Economy." Processes 10, no. 6 (June 9, 2022): 1156. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pr10061156.
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Urban water systems are still in their infancy regarding the transition toward a circular economy, despite the sporadic successful examples worldwide. This paper was aimed at analyzing the preparedness of four water utilities in Bulgaria for the implementation of circular economy principles and solutions. These utilities provide water supply and sewerage services to about 30% of the population in Bulgaria. SWOT analysis was used as a core tool. Publicly available data such as nonrevenue water, pressure management, energy demand, network digitalization, and sludge utilization were used to explore the internal factors. The external environment was considered through the legislative and socioeconomic framework, climate change, etc. Finally, the credibility of the conclusions was verified in workshops with the water utilities. The key positive outcomes were that the external factors favor the shift to circular systems, while the major weakness, i.e., the aged infrastructure, is actually a good opportunity for the implementation of modern and circular solutions. The efficient collaboration of water utilities with other actors is a precondition for the development of a sustainable market for “circular” products.
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Macharia, Pauline, Norbert Kreuzinger, and Nzula Kitaka. "Applying the Water-Energy Nexus for Water Supply—A Diagnostic Review on Energy Use for Water Provision in Africa." Water 12, no. 9 (September 13, 2020): 2560. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w12092560.
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This work explores the application of the Water-Energy Nexus concept for water supply in the African context, where its operationalization is quite limited compared to developed regions. Furthermore, water supply and demand drivers and their influence on energy use are examined. This study found that there is limited literature available on the operationalization of the concept, and energy use is not considered a key performance indicator by water regulators and utilities. Regionally, most of the studies were carried out in the northern and southern Africa, where energy demand for water supply through desalination is high. An analysis of water supply and demand drivers show diminishing quantities of available freshwater, and increased anthropogenic pollutant loads in some areas are projected. Consequently, utilities will likely consider alternative energy-intensive water supply options. Increased population growth with the highest global urban growth rate is projected, with about 60% of the total population in Africa as urban dwellers by 2050. This implies huge growth in water demand that calls for investment in technology, infrastructure, and improved understanding of energy use and optimization, as the largest controllable input within utilities boundaries. However, it requires a data-driven understanding of the operational drivers for water supply and incorporation of energy assessment metrics to inform water-energy policies and to exploit the nexus opportunities.
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Qiao, Frank, Z. Michael Wang, and Jim McCarthy. "Managing long-term capacity in the age of conservation." Water Supply 13, no. 5 (September 1, 2013): 1188–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/ws.2013.112.
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This paper illustrates the long-term planning challenge for water utilities in the age of conservation using detailed operating data of three sampling entities from the mid 1990s to 2009. The induced behavioral change from conservation measures is found to be of a permanent nature and the unit consumption to be in long-term descent. This in turn may call for a paradigm change in pricing and capacity planning for utilities. The ever-declining per capita consumption alters many commonly acknowledged norms for utilities, in particular for fast growing ones that may have taken on additional financial leverage to support previously anticipated growth. If not managed properly, the full cost recovery mechanism of pricing may force those utilities into an unsustainable future of ever-decreasing total demand and ever-increasing cash flow shortfall. Collection of more detailed water demand data in a timely fashion may prove to be a necessary exercise for sound management of median to large water utilities.
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Pariy, Aleksander V., and Aleksander V. Lysov. "Creating a national benchmarking system for the utilities of water supply and wastewater sector in Russia." Water Supply 14, no. 3 (December 4, 2013): 438–43. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/ws.2013.220.
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Despite the vast resources of drinking water, Russia today is facing some serious problems in the water supply industry. The authors believe that creating a nation-wide benchmarking for Russia's water industry will play an important role in the development process for efficiently functioning water utilities. The main objective is to make improvements in quality of the services provided to the population and to rationalize the management methods by using the best practices and existing technologies as well as conducting a comprehensive integrated assessment of the general situation in the sector and at separate utilities. The article describes the steps taken by the management of Lipetsk Municipal Energy Company to organize benchmarking in the housing and communal utilities sector, mostly in water supply and wastewater services.
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Schwartz, Klaas. "From government-driven to commercially-driven mergers: changing drivers for upscaling in the Dutch water supply sector." Water Policy 13, no. 3 (October 26, 2010): 317–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wp.2010.031.
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Over the past century the Dutch water supply sector has undergone a process of upscaling in which the number of utilities dropped from 230 in the late 1930s to 14 in 2007. Although the policy of upscaling service provision has been continued over this period, the driving forces behind the upscaling process have changed from government-steered upscaling to mergers which are initiated and executed by the water utilities. The shift in drivFing forces reflects two interlinked changes in the Dutch water supply sector. First, it highlights a shift in objectives that public water utilities are expected to achieve. The government-driven mergers in the first part of the 20th century focused on expanding service coverage to the unserved population. The mergers of the past decade highlight the increasing emphasis on efficiency and “market position”. Secondly, the change in driving forces behind the mergers in the Dutch water supply sector, as illustrated by the case of Friesland, reflect the shift to a “new model of public management” in the water services sector in which public water utilities are expected to operate as autonomous agencies and on the basis of commercial principles (meaning that economic considerations for mergers predominate).
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Kayaga, Sam. "Effective water safety management of piped water networks in low-income urban settlements." Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development 3, no. 3 (March 7, 2013): 402–10. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/washdev.2013.105.
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Spiralling low-income settlements are a big challenge to urban water utilities of developing countries. To extend and maintain water services to these settlements, urban water utilities need to develop innovative solutions for overcoming various physical/technical, institutional, structural/legal and financial/economic constraints associated with these informal areas. This paper draws from documented pilot projects of implementing community-managed Water Safety Plans (WSPs) in various developing countries, and synthesises necessary ingredients for effective implementation of WSPs in low-income urban settlements. Urban water utilities need to partner with community members, but the former should keep a facilitating/overseeing role, given the overly technical nature of WSPs. The terms of the partnership should be mutually agreed and well documented; the utility should allow full participation of the relevant community members in the overall Operation and Maintenance (O&M) plan for the low-income settlement, in order to enhance community ownership of the water supply system, and continuously develop the capacity of relevant community members. The relevant community members should be facilitated, through participatory approaches, to develop bespoke community-based WSPs along with simple monitoring tools. Implementing community-managed WSPs will be easier and more effective if O&M systems and community management approaches are already institutionalised within the water utility.
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Coulibaly, Housseini D., and Manuel J. Rodriguez. "Portrait of Drinking Water Quality in Small Quebec Municipal Utilities." Water Quality Research Journal 38, no. 1 (February 1, 2003): 49–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wqrj.2003.005.
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Abstract This study of small Quebec municipal drinking water utilities (i.e., those serving 10,000 or fewer people) focuses on a portrait of microbiological water quality (based on total and fecal coliform data) and distribution system management strategies. It also addresses relationships between some important water quality and operational parameters and management strategies, as well as total or fecal coliform occurrences. Along with descriptive analyses, statistical means tests (Student t-tests) were performed to identify significant differences between utilities with high coliform occurrence and utilities with low coliform occurrence according to chlorine dose, distribution system flushings, pipe age, main breakage, and some environmental factors. Even though many interesting trends have been noted, only a few resulted in statistically significant differences. For surface water utilities using chlorination alone, the mean difference of annual system flushings proved statistically significant. In addition, some agricultural land-use indicators within the municipal territory appeared significantly correlated with coliform occurrences.
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Mwanza, D. D. "Promoting good governance through regulatory frameworks in African water utilities." Water Science and Technology 51, no. 8 (April 1, 2005): 71–79. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/wst.2005.0228.
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Most public utilities in Africa are operating at very low efficiency levels. This is mainly a result of poor governance leading to a downward spiral in terms of service to customers. Nearly in every case, studies have shown that the root cause of these problems is not necessarily lack of investment but poor choices with regard to sector policies, institutional and regulatory frameworks. The paper will seek to show the need for effective regulatory framework that promotes Good Governance of public utilities leading to their efficient performance. The paper will draw lessons from the Australian water services regulatory framework and apply it to the African water situation. The Australian regulatory framework has been instrumental in promoting Good Governance in the public utilities hence being run efficiently. It is recognised that the African Water and Sanitation Sector where most public utilities are not operating under a clearly defined regulatory framework can learn a lot from the Australian experience.
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Lukas, Aditya, Ernest Mayr, Max Ruhri, Harald Katzmair, and Reinhard Perfler. "Failure Experience Improvement System (FEIS) for water supply systems." Journal of Hydroinformatics 14, no. 3 (November 7, 2011): 646–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.2166/hydro.2011.125.
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The Failure Experience Improvement System (FEIS) is a software tool that was developed in order to contribute to a minimization of hazardous events and failures within water supply systems and thus to achieve increased water safety. Based on the analysis of failure systems by applying Social Network Analysis (SNA) to the water supply infrastructure, the FEIS enables water utilities to identify causes and effects of failure events and to locate vulnerable points in their infrastructure. Failure events and the relations between them are the basis for the FEIS database. This database draws upon information on failure events which have occurred in practice at water utilities in Austria and on a literature review and survey of guidelines. The FEIS, which is accessed online, is currently used by six Austrian water utilities for development and test purposes. It provides both graphical visualization of the failure network and analytical indicators to evaluate failure events. In this way, it supports the utilities in identifying corrective actions in order to minimize the probability of failure occurrence and to limit the damage to the system once a failure has occurred.
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Kaminsky, Jessica, and Emily Kumpel. "Dry Pipes: Associations between Utility Performance and Intermittent Piped Water Supply in Low and Middle Income Countries." Water 10, no. 8 (August 4, 2018): 1032. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w10081032.
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Intermittent piped water supply impacts at least one billion people around the globe. Given the environmental and public health implications of poor water supply, there is a strong practical need to understand how and why intermittent supply occurs, and what strategies may be used to move utilities towards the provision of continuous water supply. Leveraging data from the International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities, we discover 42 variables that have statistically significant associations with intermittent water supply at the utility scale across 2115 utilities. We categorized these under the following themes: Physical infrastructure system scale, coverage, consumer type, public water points, financial, and non-revenue water and metering. This research identifies globally relevant factors with high potential for cross-context, scaled impact. In addition, using insights from the analysis, we provide empirically grounded recommendations and data needs for improved global indicators of utility performance related to intermittent supply.
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Tsoukalas, Dionysios S., and Stavroula Tsitsifli. "A Critical Evaluation of Water Safety Plans (WSPs) and HACCP Implementation in Water Utilities." Proceedings 2, no. 11 (August 2, 2018): 600. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2110600.
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The use of traditional risk management systems has proven to be insufficient to safeguard the safety of drinking water. Nowadays, it is preferable to apply preventive instead of corrective systems. Two of the most commonly used systems are the Hazard Assessment and Critical Control Points (HACCP) and the Water Safety Plans (WSPs). The major benefit of their implementation is the improvement of drinking water quality. Of course, the successful implementation of HACCP and WSPs in water utilities can be limited by a number of factors such as the lack of financial resources. However, the importance of implementation’s difficulties is minimal in relation to the benefits that may result from the application of HACCP and WSPs in water utilities.