Abstract
A water and sanitation sustainability index (WASSI) was developed and estimated in four cities of the province of Salta, in northern Argentina. The index was built with nine descriptors and fifteen indicators that covered all essential aspects of the sustainability of local water and sanitation management systems. Only one of the cities studied obtained a sustainability value above the acceptability threshold adopted (50 of 100 points). Results indicate that the water company needs to address some environmental and social issues to enhance the sustainability of the systems studied. The WASSI was conceptually robust and operationally simple, and could be easily adapted to the case studies. The index can be followed and updated online on a web site specially developed for this project. This website could be useful to promote participatory processes, assist decision makers, and facilitate academic research. According to local stakeholders, a more open sustainability assessment based on sustainability indices and supported by virtual tools would be relevant and highly feasible. It would help decision makers improve the sustainability and transparency of water and sanitation management systems, and promote more sustainable water policies in the region and beyond.
Highlights
Sustainability indicators can be used to assess products, sectors, companies, regions, and even countries [1,2]
Even though all cities studied are served by the same water company, differences could be detected for some indicators
When it comes to water consumption, SAL and San Ramón de la Nueva Orán (SRNO) have a daily per capita consumption that exceeds the value recommended by local regulations by more than 50%
Summary
Sustainability indicators can be used to assess products, sectors, companies, regions, and even countries [1,2]. A number of assessment methods based on sustainability indicators are available, covering a wide variety of issues and methodological approaches [3,4,5,6,7]. The use of sustainability indicators requires a degree of consensus among policy makers, scholars, and other relevant local actors on the concepts and methods that will be used for the assessment [9,10,11]. It is generally accepted that the ultimate goal of sustainability assessment is to assist in decision-making processes [12,13,14,15,16,17]. The fact that results from these assessments are rarely incorporated into official decision-making processes has put sustainability indicators under scrutiny [18,19]. Contentious issues in the use of these indicators are concerns with their transparency, openness, and democratic character as a result of the exceedingly technical approaches used that tend to preclude the participation of end users and other relevant stakeholders [17]
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