The most efficient clusters of Brazilian water companies

Water Policy ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 902-917 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Carvalho ◽  
Isabel Pedro ◽  
Rui Cunha Marques
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Parametric Method ◽  
Regulatory Framework ◽  
Natural Monopoly ◽  
Water Utilities ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Private Participation ◽  
Water And Wastewater ◽  
Water Companies ◽  
Non Parametric

Usually water utilities provide their services under natural monopoly, with few incentives to become efficient, therefore affecting customers in the form of expensive tariffs. Hence, it is extremely important to find out the sources of inefficiency. The present study aims to identify the most efficient water utility groups in Brazil. For this purpose, a robust non-parametric method was applied. The results show that the utilities that provide both drinking water and wastewater services, the local utilities, and the utilities with private participation are more efficient. Furthermore, this study proved that the utilities were more efficient before the regulatory framework had been implemented.

Modernization of the water utility company of Bogotá (Colombia): an example of public and private participation for solving management problems of water companies in developing countries

2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-113
Author(s):  
F. Zuleta ◽  
A. Merlano ◽  
A. Alvarez ◽  
M. Montoya ◽  
E. Restrepo
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Practical Case ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Comparative Efficiency ◽  
Utility Company ◽  
Private Participation ◽  
Management Problems ◽  
Water Companies

A common characteristic of water utility and wastewater companies in developing countries is management problems and limited commercial vocation. In the biggest Latin American cities there is a level of infrastructure enough for providing a substantially better service than the one currently supplied to their badly served customers. For years decisions have moved between two extremes: public management – usually corrupted with playing politics and inefficiency problems, and privatization – sharply criticized by many, and which has shown tendencies to inequality that leave it far away from earning panacea status. This paper is intended to expose the advantages of a novel model in which a state-run company with commercial management problems, the EAAB, solves its limitations by keeping the ownership of its assets and successfully incorporating the participation of better practices from other specialized operators, one of which is a state-owned player, EEPPM. This scheme demonstrates how the service indicators of a system serving eight million inhabitants in the Colombian capital improved significantly with state-owned assets and private participation, without giving in to privatization pressures or stagnating in the usual inefficiency typical of public management in developing countries. This is proposed as a replicable experience that can be used in medium and large cities in other countries with similar management problems, with certain adjustments to fit the solution to the specific cases. This is also a practical case for conducting a comparison of competitiveness within a city, of interest for regulatory entities and investigators on the potential of comparative efficiency in a traditionally monopolistic industry.

scholarly journals How Perceptions of Trust, Risk, Tap Water Quality, and Salience Characterize Drinking Water Choices

Hydrology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 49
Author(s):  
Madeline A. Grupper ◽  
Madeline E. Schreiber ◽  
Michael G. Sorice
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Anthropogenic Impacts ◽  
Tap Water ◽  
Water Utilities ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
The Public ◽  
Water Behavior

Provision of safe drinking water by water utilities is challenged by disturbances to water quality that have become increasingly frequent due to global changes and anthropogenic impacts. Many water utilities are turning to adaptable and flexible strategies to allow for resilient management of drinking water supplies. The success of resilience-based management depends on, and is enabled by, positive relationships with the public. To understand how relationships between managers and communities spill over to in-home drinking water behavior, we examined the role of trust, risk perceptions, salience of drinking water, and water quality evaluations in the choice of in-home drinking water sources for a population in Roanoke Virginia. Using survey data, our study characterized patterns of in-home drinking water behavior and explored related perceptions to determine if residents’ perceptions of their water and the municipal water utility could be intuited from this behavior. We characterized drinking water behavior using a hierarchical cluster analysis and highlighted the importance of studying a range of drinking water patterns. Through analyses of variance, we found that people who drink more tap water have higher trust in their water managers, evaluate water quality more favorably, have lower risk perceptions, and pay less attention to changes in their tap water. Utility managers may gauge information about aspects of their relationships with communities by examining drinking water behavior, which can be used to inform their future interactions with the public, with the goal of increasing resilience and adaptability to external water supply threats.

scholarly journals Gaming in a benchmarking environment. A non-parametric analysis of benchmarking in the water sector

Water Policy ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristof De Witte ◽  
Rui Cunha Marques
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Parametric Analysis ◽  
Malmquist Index ◽  
Parametric Estimation ◽  
Water Utilities ◽  
Water Sector ◽  
Productivity Gains ◽  
Non Parametric Estimation ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Non Parametric

This paper discusses the use of benchmarking in general and its application to the drinking water sector in particular. It systematizes the various classifications of performance measurement, discusses some of the pitfalls of benchmark studies and provides some examples of benchmarking in the water sector. After a presentation of the institutional framework of the water sector in the Belgian region of Flanders (without any benchmarking experience), Wallonia (recently started a public benchmark) and the Netherlands (introduced a public benchmark in 1997), we point to their different stages in the benchmarking cycle. As these three regions are comparable apart from their different implementation of benchmarking, a non-parametric estimation of the productivity gains over time (by a Malmquist index) could be insightful. The ‘carrot’ and the ‘stick’ of benchmarking seem to offer an effective incentive to trigger performance. In addition, the Malmquist decompositions provide some indication on the ‘gaming’ of the stakeholders by the water utilities.

Proposal of a systematic methodology to estimate apparent losses due to water meter inaccuracies

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 1324-1330
Author(s):  
F. J. Arregui ◽  
J. Soriano ◽  
J. García-Serra ◽  
R. Cobacho
Keyword(s):  
Water Utilities ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Know How ◽  
Probable Reason ◽  
Standard Methodology ◽  
Systematic Methodology ◽  
Invaluable Tool ◽  
Water Companies ◽  
Water Meter

Apparent losses are integrated by four components: water meter inaccuracies, data pathway errors, unauthorized consumption, uncertainties in estimating unmetered consumption. Depending on the water utility and the local circumstances, each one of these components can adopt a larger or smaller importance. Obviously, accurate estimates of apparent losses components can be an invaluable tool for water utilities managers who, by having this information, will know how to make more profitable investments. Strangely enough, however, until now there has not been published a standard methodology that provides adequate guidelines to conduct a proper evaluation of water meter inaccuracies. The most probable reason is the complexity underlying this calculation, which involves the use of many parameters that are hardly understood. The lack of a standard methodology to calculate water meter inaccuracies can lead to different results, even in the case of analysing the same set of data. Consequently, water companies cannot compare their figures on metering errors with other utilities since they may have been obtained by applying different methodologies and might not be directly comparable. Taking this into consideration, this paper tries to define a basic methodology to calculate water meter inaccuracies.

scholarly journals Determining Canadian water utility preparedness for the impacts of climate change

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meagan Brettle ◽  
Peter Berry ◽  
Jaclyn Paterson ◽  
Gordon Yasvinski
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Impacts ◽  
Water Utilities ◽  
Extreme Weather Events ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Weather Events ◽  
Vulnerability Assessments ◽  
Climate Change Risks ◽  
Water And Wastewater ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

AbstractGeneral warming and extreme weather events associated with climate change are expected to negatively impact water utilities. Water utilities will need to adapt to continue providing safe drinking water and wastewater services. In 2012, the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA) conducted a survey of 53 water utility officials to understand the expert perceptions of climate change risks and preparedness of Canadian utilities for current and future impacts. Results indicated that there is low awareness among water utility officials (30%) of thepossible impacts of climate change on water utilities, and more than half have not conducted climate change vulnerability assessments (65%) and do not have operational plans to address climate change impacts (56%). Officials from smaller utilities, which are considered to be more vulnerable to impacts, were of those less aware of these risks and reported taking fewer preparedness activities. Efforts to prepare water utilities for climate change impacts in Canada would benefit from education of utility officials about possible climate change risks, encouraging assessments of vulnerabilities, and increased training with new adaptation tools and resources.

Opportunities for public water utilities in the market of energy from water

2011 ◽  
Vol 63 (12) ◽  
pp. 2909-2915 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. S. M. Mol ◽  
J. M. Kornman ◽  
A. J. Kerpershoek ◽  
A. W. C. van der Helm
Keyword(s):  
Energy Source ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Energy Recovery ◽  
Water Cycle ◽  
Sustainable Energy ◽  
Water Utilities ◽  
Water Utility ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
The Public ◽  
Water Flows

An inventory is made of the possibilities to recover sustainable energy from the water cycle by identifying different water flows in a municipal environment as a sustainable energy source. It is discussed what role public water utilities should play in the market of energy from water. This is done for Waternet, the public water utility of Amsterdam, by describing experiences on two practical applications for aquifer thermal energy storage and energy recovery from drinking water. The main conclusion is that public water utilities can substantially contribute to the production of sustainable energy, especially by making use of heat and cold from the water cycle. Public water utilities have the opportunity to both regulate and enter the market for energy from water.

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