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The quality of service: An overall performance assessment for water utilities

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  • Pinto, F.S.
  • Costa, A.S.
  • Figueira, J.R.
  • Marques, R.C.

Abstract

Over the last decades, the delivery of water supply services has changed among regions and actors, in order to meet the changing needs. Those services can be balanced based on the relation between the obligations they must fulfill, the quality offered, and the associated price/value for money. Furthermore, due to the water services inherent characteristics, they are prone to poor quality of service (in general terms). Thus, global performance assessments are of paramount relevance under those constraints. In Portugal, the water regulator has developed a system of performance indicators (partial measures of performance) and, therefore, it is not possible to achieve the desired holistic performance evaluation (global measure). To enable such assessment, we propose an application based on the ELECTRE TRI-nC method to define quality of service categories and aggregate performance indicators. To obtain a coherent family of criteria (i.e., exhaustive, cohesive, and non-redundant) we apply an iso-preference logic. The results obtained are presented through a geographical information system allowing for a clearer visualization of the overall performance of water utilities. The method proposed can be considered a suitable decision support system and useful regulatory tool able to provide policy relevant outputs.

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  • Pinto, F.S. & Costa, A.S. & Figueira, J.R. & Marques, R.C., 2017. "The quality of service: An overall performance assessment for water utilities," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 115-125.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jomega:v:69:y:2017:i:c:p:115-125
    DOI: 10.1016/j.omega.2016.08.006
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    12. de la Higuera-Molina, Emilio José & Campos-Alba, Cristina María & López-Pérez, Germán & Zafra-Gómez, José Luis, 2023. "Efficiency of water service management alternatives in Spain considering environmental factors," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
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    14. Eduardo Fernandez & Jorge Navarro & Rafael Olmedo, 2018. "Characterization of the Effectiveness of Several Outranking-Based Multi-Criteria Sorting Methods," International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making (IJITDM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 17(04), pages 1047-1084, July.
    15. Darllan Collins Cunha e Silva & Renan Angrizani Oliveira & Vanessa Cezar Simonetti & Bruno Pereira Toniolo & Jomil Costa Abreu Sales & Roberto Wagner Lourenço, 2023. "Creation of an environmental sustainability index for water resources applied to watersheds," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(10), pages 11285-11305, October.
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    17. Lu, Shibao & Lian, Zhiduan & Sun, Huaping & Wu, Xiaohe & Bai, Xiao & Wang, Congcong, 2021. "Simulating trans-boundary watershed water resources conflict," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    18. D’Inverno, Giovanna & Carosi, Laura & Romano, Giulia, 2021. "Environmental sustainability and service quality beyond economic and financial indicators: A performance evaluation of Italian water utilities," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    19. Henriques, Alda A. & Camanho, Ana S. & Amorim, Pedro & Silva, Jaime G., 2020. "Performance benchmarking using composite indicators to support regulation of the Portuguese wastewater sector," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    20. Ramon Sala-Garrido & Manuel Mocholí-Arce & María Molinos-Senante, 2021. "Assessing the Quality of Service of Water Companies: a ‘Benefit of the Doubt’ Composite Indicator," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 371-387, May.
    21. Fátima Pérez & Laura Delgado-Antequera & Trinidad Gómez, 2019. "A Two-Phase Method to Assess the Sustainability of Water Companies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-19, July.

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