Municipal water supplies efficiencies in Gaza Strip: a data envelopment analysis approach

Abstract

This paper reports the findings of a research carried out to evaluate the efficiency of municipal water supply systems using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Input and output variables needed for DEA were identified using literature review and questionnaires. Input variables considered in this paper include Number of Connections (NC), Length of Water Network (LWN), Number of Employees (NE) and Maintenance and Operation Costs (MOC), while Total Revenues (TR) and Number of People Served (NPS) were used as output variables. Values of these variables were obtained for the existing 25 municipalities for the years of 2015, 2016 and 2017 and the averages of these variables were calculated and used in the model. The paper uses Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes (CCR) model and Banker, Chames and Cooper (BCC) model. Results indicate that length of water network and maintenance and operation costs were the major sources of inefficiencies.