Review of research on performance indicators for water utilities

• Published in: Aqua (London, England) Vol. 73; no. 2; pp. 167 - 182
• Main Author: Sakai, Hiroshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IWA Publishing 01.02.2024
• Subjects: aging; asset management; carbon neutral; depopulation; distribution pipe; leakage management; utility management
• ISSN: 2709-8028; 2709-8036
• DOI: 10.2166/aqua.2024.224

Abstract Water utilities are affected by various social, environmental, and technological factors and are increasingly required to enhance their infrastructure and long-term efficiency. Performance indicators are useful tools for assessing the operational, financial, environmental, and social aspects of water systems. Given this background, the author reviewed the literature on performance indicators for the water sector and summarized the research trends as follows. As a perspective, there are a lot of good mathematical and theoretical studies on distribution pipes and leakage management. Future research should address the problems of water utilities, by using multiple levels of performance indicators including social and environmental context in the long term. Asset management and utility management studies address diverse and current problems faced by water utilities. However, there is still room for improvement in standardizing the methodology for data collection, processing, and integration. In addition, it is recommended for future research, to include carbon neutrality aspect, to include pipeline materials and soil information in leakage management, to extend asset management studies to treatment plants, with including additional indicators about human and financial resources.