Abstract

In this study, performance indicators (PIs) for assessing services of the sanitary sewer system in South Korea were evaluated based on general opinions collected from experts in the field. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was then carried out. The evaluated set of PIs consisted of five major criteria: management, operation and maintenance, service, environment, and finance. Using the experts’ survey incorporated into the AHP tool, the prioritization of the five criteria was performed, consisting of a total of 14 indicators and 34 checklists on three levels. Of the criteria groups, operation and maintenance was found to be the most important indicator, comprising 43% of all the scores. The AHP results showed that, of the 34 checklists, 13 indicators were explained as candidates of key PIs: on-the-job training and work role and responsibility from management, sewer condition inspection, pump, sewer maintenance, flow rate/water quality/odor monitoring from operation and maintenance, complaint resolution from service, inflow volume from environment, and operational cost in annual expenditures from finance. The PIs developed in this study are expected to be used by stakeholders involved in the provision of sewer services, such as undertaking companies, policy-making bodies, and financing agencies.

Highlights

  • Sanitary sewer systems (SSSs) are designed to collect and transport domestic, commercial, and industrial wastewater, and limited amounts of stormwater to a wastewater treatment plant

  • A new set of performance indicators (PIs) for the performance assessment of sanitary sewer systems was developed in this study

  • Using the experts’ survey incorporated into the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) tool, the prioritization of five criteria consisting of a total of 14 indicators, 34 checklists in level 3, and 41 indicators in level 4 was performed

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Summary

Introduction

Sanitary sewer systems (SSSs) are designed to collect and transport domestic, commercial, and industrial wastewater, and limited amounts of stormwater to a wastewater treatment plant. A standardized performance assessment for wastewater services was established by Matos et al [1], based on a system of performance indicators (PIs) that cover all fundamental tasks of wastewater and sewerage services Various international organizations, such as the International Water Association (IWA) [1], International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities—World Bank (IBNET) [2], the Office of Water Services (OFWAT) [3], United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) [4], and the American Water Works Association (AWWA) [5], have proposed different PIs covering all the fundamental tasks of wastewater systems. Other working groups in several countries have proposed PIs that reflect the chief aspects of the management of a water and sewerage service [6,7,8,9] In those systems, PIs to assess the performance of wastewater services were categorized into different groups depending on service attributes (e.g., environmental, physical, personal, operational, financial performance, reliability, and availability)

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