Water Utility Sector Research Articles

A Contribution to Increasing Efficiency in the Water Utility Sector—A Case Study in Kosovo

Due to the rise in energy and water consumption, especially via water losses in water supply systems, it is imperative to reduce and eliminate such problems. Nowadays, commercial efficiency problems are present throughout the world, but in countries with a lower level of development, they have a considerable presence. Therefore, Kosovo, as such a country, has serious problems regarding commercial efficiency in the water sector. Improving performance involves sharing best practices to reduce water losses and improve collection rates. Water losses in Kosovo range from 55 to 61% of water production. Besides water losses, water utilities in Kosovo also have a low collection rate, ranging from 61% to 93% of issued invoices. Alongside these levels of non-revenue water and low collection rates, only 33.55 to 56.73% of produced water generates income. Improvement may be possible through profiling the consumption of large customers, calibrating and installing water meters with high accuracy, reading water materials with handheld devices, improving pressure management, finding illegal connections, selling a proportion of old debts, replacing old pipes with modern materials, etc.

Financial Performance Assessment through Statement Analysis: A Qualitative Study

This qualitative study aims to assess the financial performance of a regional water company using descriptive analysis. Conducted at a specific location in Pasuruan Regency, East Java, the research gathered insights from experts in the Finance Division and General Affairs, Public Relations, and HR. Inductive data analysis revealed increasing liquidity ratios, decreasing solvency ratios, and rising profitability ratios over the years. These findings carry implications for the financial health and sustainability of similar entities, offering valuable insights for decision-makers in the water utility sector. Highlights: Key Insight: Qualitative approach for financial assessment. Notable Trends: Liquidity, solvency, and profitability ratios. Sector Implications: Decision support for water utilities. Keywords: Financial Performance, Statement Analysis, Water Utility, Qualitative Research, Sustainability.

Assessing eco-efficiency of wastewater treatment plants: A cross-evaluation strategy

Evaluating the eco-efficiency of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is crucial for enhancing environmental and economic performance in the water utility sector. Previous studies in this area estimated WWTP eco-efficiency through self-evaluation, which might have led to overestimation and biased policy recommendations. To address these issues, this study applies a cross-evaluation strategy, combining self-evaluation and peer-evaluation, to assess the eco-efficiency of WWTPs. The empirical application focuses on a sample of Spanish WWTPs, yielding the following key findings. Average eco-efficiency scores were 0.353 and 0.230, for self-evaluation and global peer-evaluation approaches, respectively, confirming the overestimation of eco-efficiency scores based on self-evaluation. If WWTPs were eco-efficient, they could potentially reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by up to 0.39 kg CO2eq/year. The application of reliable methods, such as peer-evaluation, for eco-efficiency assessment of WWTPs provides water regulators with a comprehensive understanding of the environmental and economic performance of WWTPs. This knowledge guides decision-making, policy development, and resource allocation, facilitating sustainable and efficient wastewater management practices.

A survey of water utilities’ digital transformation: drivers, impacts, and enabling technologies

Climate change and urbanization challenge utilities’ pursuit of water security worldwide. While water utilities are directly impacted by climate change, their operations also contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Digital technologies have proven effective in improving utilities’ operations, leading to a more sustainable urban water cycle. However, the global progress of digital water transformation remains largely understudied. Here, we present the results of an online survey involving 64 utilities from 28 countries investigating the impacts of digital transformation on the water utility sector, its drivers, and key-enabling technologies. We found that the water distribution system is the entry point to further adoption of digital technologies in the whole urban water cycle. Furthermore, technology adoption is driven primarily by economic benefits, followed by government regulation and hydroclimatic factors. Starting from the survey results, we point out avenues for further research targeting a better understanding of the influence of regulation, corporate mindset, and consumer involvement for successful digital transformation.

Climate services for water utilities: Lessons learnt from the case of the urban water supply to Valencia, Spain

Climate change projections in many regions of the world show a critical reduction in precipitation and a significant rise in temperatures in the next decades. This change may affect the operation of water utilities in arid and semi-arid parts of the globe. The Mediterranean region is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change on water resources. In this paper, we reflect on the challenges that the water utility sector may experience during the upcoming decades to continue providing its essential service under the new climate scenario. Our reasoning is based on the lessons learned during the co-creation of a climate service with the water utility company of Valencia (Spain) within the framework of the EU ERA4CS project INNOVA. The joint vision of climate, water management researchers and water utility operators resulted in a multi-scale framework for evaluating the vulnerability of the water utility to climate change. The modelling framework couples water quantity and quality and their interaction in a chain of models. The proposed framework forced all parties to consider the issue of the temporal and spatial scales, and the importance of choosing and defining the boundaries of the problem. The analytical framework has three distinct elements: (1) a combination of climate projections; (2) hydrological and water resource management model of the river basin system; (3) reservoir management and water quality model. Two Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 were considered in two timeframes for the analysis: the short term (2020–2040) and the medium term (2041–2069). The results show a significant reduction in water availability combined with an increased frequency and intensity of phytoplankton blooms and anoxia episodes. These changes result in the deterioration of the reservoir trophic state, shifting from ultraoligotrophic-oligotrophic (control period) to oligotrophic-mesotrophic (RCP 8.5). The example shows how the combination of models on different scales and the involvement of experts in the co-creation process can result in a customized climate service that provides valuable information to water utility operators that can be used to reduce the system’s vulnerability to climate change.

When Nothing Happens: Understanding the Lack of Agency in Degrading Water Utility Systems (WITHDRAWN)

The water utility sector is usually perceived as a conservative sector. However, in times of major investment needs an opportunity to change the otherwise rigid infrastructure systems appears. The transition literature has gained extensive attention for studies on transitions of established socio-technical systems. In this research stream, the concept of the socio-technical regime, which constitutes the highly institutionalised formal and informal rules that control the system, plays a central role. In this paper, the regime is conceptualised as constituting of multiple sub-regimes, which are used to examine what is preventing the transition of a degrading socio-technical system. This is illustrated by a case study of the water utility sector in Sweden, which face significant needs to upgrade its infrastructure systems. The findings show that the key regime actors, i.e., the water utilities, are currently prevented from managing this situation. By studying the sub-regimes, lock-ins and possible responses to them are identified.

Risk management during the Covid-19 crisis: business responses in the Polish water utilities

Abstract Water utilities are an essential service that helps protect public health during crises. The Covid-19 pandemic revealed that crisis preparedness is a crucial capability that water utilities must possess. The purpose of this paper is to identify managerial actions and responses that were undertaken by water utility managers in order to reduce the risk related to the first economic lockdown caused by the unexpected Covid-19 crisis. As water utilities should learn from Covid-19 so as to strengthen their future risk preparedness, the paper offers some theoretical underpinnings on risk management. As a result of literature analysis, we focus on the risk management framework that distinguishes five types of risk. The survey was carried out among 116 waterworks in Poland in April 2020. The results indicate the importance of minimising liquidity risk and supply chain risk, which is relevant to the adopted theoretical framework. The findings also highlight the importance of a category that was not originally included in the research model – that is human resource risk, an area that requires managerial attention in the water utility sector. The results could also provide useful pointers for other water utilities, especially those operating in the same or similar legislative regime.

Possibilities for Improving Energy Efficiency at Water Utility Sector

Energy efficiency plays an important role in all water sectors. Energy is one of the largest operating costs for water system. For water utility systems, energy is needed for transports of raw water, water treatment process, water storage and distribution. Energy usage can vary based on water source, treatment type, facility age, storage capacity, topography, and system size, which encompasses volume produced and service area. Water Companies are well known with importance of reducing energy consumption and costs as a means to optimize overall system performance and to provide a safe water supply. But managing staff of the water system and operators may not be fully aware of the options available to them to manage their energy budget or to identify, prioritize and fund energy improvement projects. By applying energy efficiency, water utility sectors can build a successful energy management program and achieve energy savings. This paper discusses energy issues facing public water utility sector, steps that responsibility personnel can take to understand and reduce their energy use and costs, and funding resources for energy efficiency. Main focus in this paper is to perform possibilities for increasing energy efficiency of the Pumping Station in Milloshevë which supply with raw water Treatment Plant in Shkabaj, Kosovo.

The Possibilities for Improving Energy Efficiency at Water Utility Sector

Energy efficiency plays an important role in all water sectors. Energy is one of the largest operating costs for water system. For water utility systems, energy is needed for transports of raw water, water treatment process, water storage and distribution. Energy usage can vary based on water source, treatment type, facility age, storage capacity, topography, and system size, which encompasses volume produced and service area. Water Companies are well known with importance of reducing energy consumption and costs as a means to optimize overall system performance and to provide a safe water supply. But managing staff of the water system and operators may not be fully aware of the options available to them to manage their energy budget or to identify, prioritize and fund energy improvement projects. By applying energy efficiency, water utility sectors can build a successful energy management program and achieve energy savings. This paper discusses energy issues facing public water utility sector, steps that responsibility personnel can take to understand and reduce their energy use and costs, and funding resources for energy efficiency. Main focus in this paper is to perform possibilities for increasing energy efficiency of the Pumping Station in Milloshevë which supply with raw water Treatment Plant in Shkabaj, Kosovo.

Evaluation of an integrated asset life-cycle management (ALCM) model and assessment of practices in the water utility sector

The water utility sector in South Africa is presently facing numerous challenges. Amongst the most urgent and important priorities is ageing infrastructure, which has the potential to end in failures with detrimental impacts on local communities and the natural environment. Furthermore, to manage the majority of strategic assets in terms of total performance, i.e. environmental, financial, social and technical, is often difficult as a large portion of assets, such as buried pipelines, cannot be easily accessed. These issues highlight the need for a generic asset life-cycle management model for the water utility sector. Such an integrated model is introduced; it was evaluated in the largest water utility in South Africa. Although it was found to have relevance, practicability, applicability, and usability, the model still needs rigorous testing amongst other water utilities in South Africa, and in other countries. The perceptions of the water utility sector were also assessed in terms of the practices of the principles of integrated life-cycle asset management. The results indicate a fairly good understanding of the concept of asset life-cycle management, but allude to challenges with fully implementing all the principles when it comes to asset performance measurements; particular attention must be given to develop mechanisms to measure environmental and social aspects. Nevertheless, it is highlighted that for strategic assets, the practices and principles of ALCM have many benefits, including better maintenance management, infrastructural planning, risk management, and sustainable development.

Assessing Consumer Engagement in the Water Utility Sector

A J.D. Power study exploring residential customers' opinions on quality of service and support highlights challenges and opportunities amid consumers' increasing expectations.

Leveraging Big Data Tools and Technologies: Addressing the Challenges of the Water Quality Sector

The water utility sector is subject to stringent legislation, seeking to address both the evolution of practices within the chemical/pharmaceutical industry, and the safeguarding of environmental protection, and which is informed by stakeholder views. Growing public environmental awareness is balanced by fair apportionment of liability within-sector. This highly complex and dynamic context poses challenges for water utilities seeking to manage the diverse chemicals arising from disparate sources reaching Wastewater Treatment Plants, including residential, commercial, and industrial points of origin, and diffuse sources including agricultural and hard surface water run-off. Effluents contain broad ranges of organic and inorganic compounds, herbicides, pesticides, phosphorus, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals of emerging concern. These potential pollutants can be in dissolved form, or arise in association with organic matter, the associated risks posing significant environmental challenges. This paper examines how the adoption of new Big Data tools and computational technologies can offer great advantage to the water utility sector in addressing this challenge. Big Data approaches facilitate improved understanding and insight of these challenges, by industry, regulator, and public alike. We discuss how Big Data approaches can be used to improve the outputs of tools currently in use by the water industry, such as SAGIS (Source Apportionment GIS system), helping to reveal new relationships between chemicals, the environment, and human health, and in turn provide better understanding of contaminants in wastewater (origin, pathways, and persistence). We highlight how the sector can draw upon Big Data tools to add value to legacy datasets, such as the Chemicals Investigation Programme in the UK, combined with contemporary data sources, extending the lifespan of data, focusing monitoring strategies, and helping users adapt and plan more efficiently. Despite the relative maturity of the Big Data technology and adoption in many wider sectors, uptake within the water utility sector remains limited to date. By contrast with the extensive range of applications of Big Data in in other sectors, highlight is drawn to how improvements are required to achieve the full potential of this technology in the water utility industry.

Appraising longitudinal trends in the strategic risks cited by risk managers in the international water utility sector, 2005–2015

We report dynamic changes in the priorities for strategic risks faced by international water utilities over a 10year period, as cited by managers responsible for managing them. A content analysis of interviews with three cohorts of risk managers in the water sector was undertaken. Interviews probed the focus risk managers' were giving to strategic risks within utilities, as well as specific questions on risk analysis tools (2005); risk management cultures (2011) and the integration of risk management with corporate decision-making (2015). The coding frequency of strategic (business, enterprise, corporate) risk terms from 18 structured interviews (2005) and 28 semi-structured interviews (12 in 2011; 16 in 2015) was used to appraise changes in the perceived importance of strategic risks within the sector. The aggregated coding frequency across the study period, and changes in the frequency of strategic risks cited at three interview periods identified infrastructure assets as the most significant risk over the period and suggests an emergence of extrinsic risk over time. Extended interviews with three utility risk managers (2016) from the UK, Canada and the US were then used to contextualise the findings. This research supports the ongoing focus on infrastructure resilience and the increasing prevalence of extrinsic risk within the water sector, as reported by the insurance sector and by water research organisations. The extended interviews provided insight into how strategic risks are now driving the implementation agenda within utilities, and into how utilities can secure tangible business value from proactive risk governance. Strategic external risks affecting the sector are on the rise, involve more players and are less controllable from within a utility's own organisational boundaries. Proportionate risk management processes and structures provide oversight and assurance, whilst allowing a focus on the tangible business value that comes from managing strategic risks well.

Green Building and LEED Certification in the Water Utility Sector

Recent water and wastewater projects that have achieved LEED certification indicate broad opportunities for sustainable construction and operation.

Social Drivers of Water Utility Privatization in the United States: An Examination of the Presence of Variegated Neoliberal Strategies in the Water Utility Sector

AbstractThis study uses a logistic regression analysis to investigate the social drivers of water utility privatization in the United States at the local level. In order to do so I combine data gathered from the Environmental Protection Agency's 2012 Safe Drinking Water Information System database and use it in conjunction with the U.S. census's 2008–12 county‐level demographic estimates. I use a logistic regression analysis in order to examine the relationship between theoretically relevant social factors and the probability of a privately owned or operated water system being located within a community. Key findings suggest that water utility privatization in the United States follows the logic of a variegated neoliberalism and constitutes a form of environmental injustice.

Evolution of strategic risks under future scenarios for improved utility master plans

Integrated, long-term risk management in the water sector is poorly developed. Whilst scenario planning has been applied to singular issues (e.g. climate change), it often misses a link to risk management because the likelihood of impacts in the long-term are frequently unaccounted for in these analyses. Here we apply the morphological approach to scenario development for a case study utility, Empresa Portuguesa das Águas Livres (EPAL). A baseline portfolio of strategic risks threatening the achievement of EPAL's corporate objectives was evolved through the lens of three future scenarios, ‘water scarcity’, ‘financial resource scarcity’ and ‘strong economic growth’, built on drivers such as climate, demographic, economic, regulatory and technological changes and validated through a set of expert workshops. The results represent how the baseline set of risks might develop over a 30 year period, allowing threats and opportunities to be identified and enabling strategies for master plans to be devised. We believe this to be the first combined use of risk and futures methods applied to a portfolio of strategic risks in the water utility sector.

Effective drinking water collaborations are not accidental: Interagency relationships in the international water utility sector

The role that deficient institutional relationships have played in aggravating drinking water incidents over the last 30years has been identified in several inquiries of high profile drinking water safety events, peer-reviewed articles and media reports. These indicate that collaboration between water utilities and public health agencies (PHAs) during normal operations, and in emergencies, needs improvement. Here, critical elements of these interagency collaborations, that can be integrated within the corporate risk management structures of water utilities and PHAs alike, were identified using a grounded theory approach and 51 semi-structured interviews with utility and PHA staff. Core determinants of effective interagency relationships are discussed. Intentionally maintained functional relationships represent a key ingredient in assuring the delivery of safe, high quality drinking water.

Managing incidents in the water utility sector – towards high reliability?

Do water utilities exhibit characteristics of high organisational reliability? Here, the reported characteristics of high reliability organisations (HROs) were explored within a regional water utility, and specifically within their incident response team. We found the utility well positioned to manage incidents and that many HRO principles were identifiable as management practice under these trying conditions. The observance of HRO principles contributed to the resilience of the organisation and toward the maintenance of a safe and reliable drinking water supply. An investigation of technical reliability in the system showed that the utility invested heavily in automated monitoring and control systems and took a differentiated, risk-based approach towards resource allocation to that of HROs, which maintain existing technology with zero tolerance of defective, substandard or malfunctioning equipment.

Emergence of an innovative regulation mode in water utilities in France: between commission regulation and franchise bidding

Academic debate on public utility regulation has considerably evolved over the past 50 years. The conflict between the supporters of franchise regulation and commission regulation has given way to much more balanced in-depth analyses. Regulation is defined on the basis of its structure but also its scope and regulation incentives. A regulation mode must above all be evaluated with regard to the institutional environment. We propose a neo-institutionally-inspired analysis framework and show how the dynamic relationship between regulation and the institutional environment can lead to reforms and ultimately to more efficient regulation. The findings of a French water utility sector analysis underline how a series of national normative reforms and local exploratory reforms can give rise to innovations in the regulation mode. This new hybrid regulation, between commission regulation and franchise bidding, could be more effective than previous regulation mode, i.e. more stable and in line with stakeholders’ expectations.

An Examination of the MWSS Concession Agreements as a Means of Investing through Principal-Agent Contracted-Out Operations in the Water Utility Sector

An Examination of the MWSS Concession Agreements as a Means of Investing through Principal-Agent Contracted-Out Operations in the Water Utility Sector