Water Utilities Privatization

Wastewater services involve complex technical and environmental processes. Conventional performance assessments often disregard the service quality aspects of the sector. This article applies an advanced semi-parametric modelling framework based on data envelopment analysis to measure the economic efficiency of wastewater service provision in Australia whilst accounting for service quality. We find that the volume and type of sewer treatment, the number of treatment plants, and population density are among the exogenous factors that influence the operational efficiency of wastewater utilities. Inclusion of service quality parameters can make a significant difference in efficiency evaluations.

Environmental efficiency is considered as a foundational component of sustainable development (Matsumoto et al. 2020). Efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) to tackle climate change have put a spotlight on the environmental efficiency of water utility and sanitation services. They also urge these operations to transition into low-carbon operations. A substantial energy input is used in providing drinking water and sanitation services, particularly water supply augmentation, water and sewage treatment and pumping. In many countries, the traditional water supplies have been under pressure due to increased drought conditions and climate variability raising water security concerns. Climate-independent water supply options such as desalinisation have exacerbated energy use in recent times. The drinking water and sanitation sector encompasses several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. SDG #6 aims at achieving clean water and sanitation throughout the world; SDG #13 aims at implementing climate action and to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. The water sector is also pivotal in ensuring SDG #12, sustainable consumption and production aiming at reducing the consumption of natural resources and pollution. Environmental efficiency of drinking water and sanitation water services has received increased attention throughout the world in recent times (

Benchmarking the performance of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is essential for promoting their long-term sustainability. Recent research has applied data envelopment analysis (DEA) models to evaluate the efficiency of WWTPs providing a synthetic index of their performance. However, the traditional DEA is a deterministic method; therefore, regression analysis cannot be used to explore the external factors influencing efficiency scores. To overcome this limitation, in this study, a double bootstrap DEA model was used for the first time to compute the efficiency scores for a sample of WWTPs. The confidence intervals for efficiency scores were estimated for each facility. Results evidenced that in average WWTPs assessed could save 30% of their costs. Moreover, at the second stage of the analysis, the volume of the treated wastewater and energy consumed were found to influence the efficiency of WWTPs. This study shows the importance of using a reliable and robust method to benchmark the WWTP performance. Information about factors affecting WWTPs efficiency is essential to develop policies for promoting sustainable wastewater treatment.

The present paper investigates the factors affecting water utility companies' decision to implement public information campaigns aimed at promoting sustainable water use and reducing household water consumption. We have analyzed 114 Italian water utility companies. For each we hand-collected data regarding their suggestions for reducing household water consumption and sustainable reporting information, published on the corporate websites. We then classified each utility on the basis of their ownership, diversification, location, sales, population served, tariff and annual rainfall. Using M-quantile regression for count data we have constructed a performance measure of Italian water utility companies and have ranked them by the identification of a unique M-quantile coefficient associated with each datum observed. The paper provides some interesting insights into the type of companies most sensitive to water sustainability issues, providing potential guidance to policy makers in defining a water management framework and selecting firms to manage water services. Larger firms located in the center of Italy, in drought regions and the driest areas, seem to be more sensitive to promoting the reduction of household water consumption. Moreover, companies operating only in the water business that are publicly owned and apply lower tariffs embody the type of institutions that make greater use of web information campaigns to reduce consumption.

In Italy, debate over management forms of water utilities has continued for about thirty years, with legislation that periodically oscillates between the involvement of the private sector and keeping water management in public hands. Political and scientific discourse has focused considerable attention on ownership structure, following the ideological dichotomy of "public or private" rather than on models of governance, management, and performance. The literature finds divergent conclusions, which highlights the key role of country's institutional context in identifying the best management forms. The present work aims at providing policy and regulatory implications of decorporatization in Italy following the 2011 popular referendum through a case study of the first of its kind involving the ABC utility based in Naples. In particular, the role of primary stakeholders in the process is highlighted.

In formulating competitive strategies, one must first measure the comparative performance of the entire industry, and also may understand one's advantages and disadvantages. This paper uses the effectiveness model to measure the relative managerial performance and performance change of 50 listed corporations of the electronics industry under multiple financial ratio criteria. On the basis of the measurement of managerial performance, the entire industry can be partitioned into six clusters. Effective management strategies are developed specifically to each of six clusters of electronics industry. It was expected that this study would provide improvements to the existing financial ratio analysis; at the same time, illustrate the linkage between performance evaluation and strategy formulation for future business management needs of managers.

Providing operators with objective incentives for cost efficiency and continuous improvement in the provision of public services are major concerns for regulators. Measuring efficiency empirically is complex and this complexity is accentuated when the same operator is responsible for delivering more than one service (e.g. in order to explore potential economies of scope). Based on a sample of operators that provide water and wastewater services, this paper uses a shared input data envelopment analysis model to measure separately the efficiency of each service. The results show that a single measure may not provide enough information for monitoring multi-utilities. Together with other indicators, the proposed model can assist decision-makers in prioritizing efforts to improve overall efficiency.

Nations have established independent regulatory commissions as elements of the reform process. As countries privatize or encourage private participation in infrastructure, policymakers need to signal investors that the time horizons for policy extend beyond the next election. This article outlines how the system of regulatory governance is a major determinant of credibility to investors. In addition, the resulting regulatory policies affect the perceived riskiness of expected cash flows. These policies involve price caps, rate-of-return regulation, profit-sharing mechanisms and a variety of specific incentives and mandates. A conceptual framework that outlines key links between public policy, basic industry conditions, and sector performance is offered.

The increase in domestic transportation in developing countries may adversely affect the energy efficiency of road transportation due to effective productivity and carbon dioxide emissions (CO2). When evaluating quantitatively the countries on the efficiency frontier, poor efficiency can still be seen sometimes due to the slack available in undesirable output measures. This paper uses desirable and undesirable output variables, such as passenger-kilometers (PKM), tones-kilometers (TKM), and carbon dioxide (CO2), to compute the weakly efficient decision-making units (DMUs). The data envelopment analysis (DEA) technology is used to assess the efficiencies of the decision-making units (DMUs), which are countries in our case. Then, the trade-off method with efficient binding surfaces is used to attain the optimal efficiencies of the weakly efficient DMUs. The marginal rates aid this trade-off analysis. Resultantly, such marginal trade-offs do not deteriorate the efficiency of the DMUs b...

Many U.S. states and cities have imposed water disconnection moratoriums during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using logistic and Cox Proportional-Hazards models, we assess factors that differentiate which governments imposed moratoriums. States, which have economic regulation of private water utilities, were more likely to impose moratoriums, and those with higher COVID-19 case rates imposed moratoriums earlier. States with unified Republican Control and cities with more 2016 Trump voters were less likely to impose moratoriums on water disconnection. Cities in states without statewide moratoriums, were more likely to impose moratoriums if they had higher income, more minority residents, and more income inequality.

Museums are among the most relevant cultural institutions and assume a central role from the cultural and the economic perspectives in a country having an outstanding cultural heritage, such as Italy, which makes the evaluation of their efficiency of primary importance. However, so far, the literature evaluating museums’ efficiency has often neglected the distinction between outputs under the direct control of museums and outcomes, which depend on users’ involvement, thus providing incorrect conclusions on museums’ performance. In this paper, we employ a generalised conditional efficiency model to assess the true efficiency of Italian museums, i.e. the efficiency in the provision of museums’ service potential, and to consistently deal with the impact on the efficiency of the socio-demographic and institutional environment in which museums operate. Results show that the operational environment matters. Among other aspects, conditional estimates suggest that higher income levels and l...

The United States has experienced swings of public and private operation of its water services for more than 150 years. This paper examines the most recent swing, that of remunicipalization. We argue that much of this remunicipalization is taking place for 'pragmatic' reasons related to cost savings and service quality, but there are also signs of more 'politicized' forms of water remunicipalization taking place, similar to efforts elsewhere in the world where the process has often involved heated ideological debates and mass mobilizations. Combined with a growing politicization of other social, economic, and environmental issues in the US, water remunicipalization could become more politicized in the future, but a fragmented 'pro-public' movement, combined with ongoing efforts to outsource water services and growing resistance to remunicipalization from private water companies, may constrain this potential.

This paper is predicated upon the assumption that the annual accounts of companies constitute important corporate artefacts in their own right that are both image and rhetoric intensive. The objective is to import concepts from structural poetics and bring them to bear on annual corporate reports. The understanding of the poetics of corporate reporting in this manner is of importance as it allows the consideration of the relationship between the audience and the authors of the script to be explored. We do this by analysing the annual reports of various water companies in the UK.

The increase in domestic transportation in developing countries may adversely affect the energy efficiency of road transportation due to effective productivity and carbon dioxide emissions (CO2). When evaluating quantitatively the countries on the efficiency frontier, poor efficiency can still be seen sometimes due to the slack available in undesirable output measures. This paper uses desirable and undesirable output variables, such as passenger-kilometers (PKM), tones-kilometers (TKM), and carbon dioxide (CO2), to compute the weakly efficient decision-making units (DMUs). The data envelopment analysis (DEA) technology is used to assess the efficiencies of the decision-making units (DMUs), which are countries in our case. Then, the trade-off method with efficient binding surfaces is used to attain the optimal efficiencies of the weakly efficient DMUs. The marginal rates aid this trade-off analysis. Resultantly, such marginal trade-offs do not deteriorate the efficiency of the DMUs b...

The objective of this paper is to estimate the operational efficiency of Mexican water utilities and identify the context variables that impact their efficiency. In particular, a bootstrap data envelopment analysis (DEA) and a bootstrap truncated regression analysis are combined in a two-stage research method. In the first stage, an input-oriented DEA model is used to determine bootstrap efficiency scores. Then, the corrected distribution function of the efficiency scores is used to estimate a truncated regression which is aimed to identify the significant influential context variables. Three categorical and two continuous context variables are considered in the analysis. Results show that only one context variable has a significant impact on the water utilities efficiency scores. Managerial recommendations are drawn from the analysis. It is suggested that water utilities continue or implement wastewater treatment, persist in decreasing and controlling leakage across the distributio...

The objective of this paper is to estimate the operational efficiency of Mexican water utilities and identify the context variables that impact their efficiency. In particular, a bootstrap data envelopment analysis (DEA) and a bootstrap truncated regression analysis are combined in a two-stage research method. In the first stage, an input-oriented DEA model is used to determine bootstrap efficiency scores. Then, the corrected distribution function of the efficiency scores is used to estimate a truncated regression which is aimed to identify the significant influential context variables. Three categorical and two continuous context variables are considered in the analysis. Results show that only one context variable has a significant impact on the water utilities efficiency scores. Managerial recommendations are drawn from the analysis. It is suggested that water utilities continue or implement wastewater treatment, persist in decreasing and controlling leakage across the distributio...

In past decades, many manufacturing enterprises have followed the business model of productivity maximization, in which achieving maximum profit using limited resources is the business goal. Although this industrial strategy may make profit, it can be detrimental to the long-term social welfare. Industrial regulations require that enterprise should be responsible for the natural environment and the health of their employees while achieving their business goals. This presents a complex problem involving the trade-off between ecology and economy so that an efficient strategic decision support method is needed. Since the value-added process of a manufacturing company encompasses both desirable and undesirable outputs, in this study we use a data envelopment analysis-based model to measure performance sustainability. In it, energy, water, and manpower are considered as input resources, meanwhile CO2 emissions, wasted water, chemical compounds, and laborers’ injuries are considered as ba...

This paper investigates how the ownership and the procedure for the selection of rms operating in the local public transport sector a¤ect their productivity. In order to compare di¤erent institutional regimes, we carry out a comparative analysis of 72 companies operating in large European cities. This allows us to consider …rms selected either through competitive tendering or negotiated procedures. The analysis of the data on 77 European …rms over the period 1997-2006 indicates that …rms operate under constant returns to scale. Retrieving the residuals we obtain a measure of total factor productivity, which we regress on …rm and city characteristics. We …nd that when …rms are totally or partially in public hands their productivity is lower. Moreover, … rms selected through competitive tendering display higher total factor productivity.

The United States has experienced swings of public and private operation of its water services for more than 150 years. This paper examines the most recent swing, that of remunicipalization. We argue that much of this remunicipalization is taking place for 'pragmatic' reasons related to cost savings and service quality, but there are also signs of more 'politicized' forms of water remunicipalization taking place, similar to efforts elsewhere in the world where the process has often involved heated ideological debates and mass mobilizations. Combined with a growing politicization of other social, economic, and environmental issues in the US, water remunicipalization could become more politicized in the future, but a fragmented 'pro-public' movement, combined with ongoing efforts to outsource water services and growing resistance to remunicipalization from private water companies, may constrain this potential.

Sustainable development has become the biggest concern of the semiconductor industry, which plays a vital role not only in technology breakthroughs, but also by serving as an enabler for sustainability. This study combines Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and additive network Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure the sustainable performance which are derived from business growth stage and energy utilization stage through the parametric linear program. Meanwhile, this method makes up the disadvantage of the weighting technique used additive decomposition approach to the two-stage network and avoids biasing toward the second stage. The findings demonstrate that Taiwan’s semiconductor manufacturing sector has exhibited a steady increase in its overall trend of sustainability performance. According to the stage-level performance results, the performance of business growth is better than energy utilization. However, the changing trend of overall sustainability performance is through...

The objective of this paper is to estimate the operational efficiency of Mexican water utilities and identify the context variables that impact their efficiency. In particular, a bootstrap data envelopment analysis (DEA) and a bootstrap truncated regression analysis are combined in a two-stage research method. In the first stage, an input-oriented DEA model is used to determine bootstrap efficiency scores. Then, the corrected distribution function of the efficiency scores is used to estimate a truncated regression which is aimed to identify the significant influential context variables. Three categorical and two continuous context variables are considered in the analysis. Results show that only one context variable has a significant impact on the water utilities efficiency scores. Managerial recommendations are drawn from the analysis. It is suggested that water utilities continue or implement wastewater treatment, persist in decreasing and controlling leakage across the distributio...

Grape production is associated with some negative environmental externalities. However, they are not considered in the traditional data envelopment analysis (DEA) efficiency assessment models and the research literature. Hence, the assessment results cannot correctly reflect the technical efficiency level of open-field grape production. We measured the environmental efficiency of China's open-field grape production under the constraint of carbon emissions using the slacks-based measure (SBM) model, including the undesirable outputs. In addition, spatial relations of environmental efficiency in different open-field grape production areas in China were evaluated by adopting spatial econometric methods. The results indicate that the average environmental efficiency score of grape production in China is at a low level of 0.651. Overall, the average environmental efficiencies in southern, southwest, and northeast regions are lower than the average levels, which implies the imbalance in economic outputs, resource consumption, and environmental efficiency in open-field grape cultivation. Moreover, the spatial autocorrelation results show that the environmental efficiency of grape production has obvious continuity in neighboring regions and spatial correlation.

The objective of this paper is to estimate the operational efficiency of Mexican water utilities and identify the context variables that impact their efficiency. In particular, a bootstrap data envelopment analysis (DEA) and a bootstrap truncated regression analysis are combined in a two-stage research method. In the first stage, an input-oriented DEA model is used to determine bootstrap efficiency scores. Then, the corrected distribution function of the efficiency scores is used to estimate a truncated regression which is aimed to identify the significant influential context variables. Three categorical and two continuous context variables are considered in the analysis. Results show that only one context variable has a significant impact on the water utilities efficiency scores. Managerial recommendations are drawn from the analysis. It is suggested that water utilities continue or implement wastewater treatment, persist in decreasing and controlling leakage across the distributio...

The United States has experienced swings of public and private operation of its water services for more than 150 years. This paper examines the most recent swing, that of remunicipalization. We argue that much of this remunicipalization is taking place for 'pragmatic' reasons related to cost savings and service quality, but there are also signs of more 'politicized' forms of water remunicipalization taking place, similar to efforts elsewhere in the world where the process has often involved heated ideological debates and mass mobilizations. Combined with a growing politicization of other social, economic, and environmental issues in the US, water remunicipalization could become more politicized in the future, but a fragmented 'pro-public' movement, combined with ongoing efforts to outsource water services and growing resistance to remunicipalization from private water companies, may constrain this potential.

Measuring changes in energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions of various large economies is fundamental for analyzing the impact and effectiveness of various policies in this direction. This study analyzes intertemporal changes in energy and CO2 emissions efficiency of economies by applying a network data envelopment analysis approach that takes into consideration the internal structure of the analysis units. We have applied two divisional network data envelopment analysis models for analysis of the economic and distributive efficiency of economies from 2001 to 2011. The results are very useful in analyzing the situation; we found that none of the economies was efficient in both aspects in the sample period, implying that none of the countries in the analysis was efficient in the production and distribution of economic outputs simultaneously. Brazil, Canada, China and Germany showed improvement in economic efficiency but the distribution efficiency of the most of the economie...

This paper is predicated upon the assumption that the annual accounts of companies constitute important corporate artefacts in their own right that are both image and rhetoric intensive. The objective is to import concepts from structural poetics and bring them to bear on annual corporate reports. The understanding of the poetics of corporate reporting in this manner is of importance as it allows the consideration of the relationship between the audience and the authors of the script to be explored. We do this by analysing the annual reports of various water companies in the UK.

This paper presents a benchmarking study of the water and wastewater industry in Italy. A three-stage modeling approach was implemented to measure the efficiency of 53 utility operators. This approach is based on the implementation of network and conventional data envelopment analysis (DEA) to model the production process of the water service utility operators. In comparison to the conventional black-box or one-stage production model generally adopted in previous studies, the proposed approach provides information relative to the different efficiency components of the stages and blocks of the water service production process and its overall efficiency. Further, by shifting the efficiency analysis to a two-dimensional performance space, i.e., resource and market-efficiency, it offers a more comprehensive view of the water service industry and allows accounting for different business goals at the same time and for an investigation of industry trade-offs. Results show that the operators' efficiencies in the Italian water service industry are generally variable and low. There are no water service utilities which are 100% efficient from the resource-efficiency perspective, and the maximum efficiency score is 0.545. Efficiency measurements suggest that there is a general orientation of the Italian water industry to not invest in upgrading and improving the infrastructure assets, and achieving an acceptable efficiency in the operations is critical to delivering water services to market in an efficient way. Only one utility operator is 100% efficient from the market-efficiency perspective. The low tariffs adopted by the water service operators do not allow the gaining of satisfactory service remuneration and the achievement of long-term business sustainability. The joint analysis of the resource and market efficiency scores indicates that there is a trade-off between the corresponding business goals. Recently, the sustainable management of water resources has become an important policy issue in Europe. The access to clean and good-quality drinking water and adequate sanitation service is of primary importance to ensure human well-being, protection of public health and ecosystems, energy production, industry and agriculture development, and economic growth. Hence, any disruption in the supply of water and wastewater services and scarcity of water resources have negative impacts on the quality of human life and economic activity [1]. The provision of water and wastewater services requires considerable investment to comply with the European Union Urban Waste Water Treatment and Drinking Water directives and the various national laws. Thus, in the near future, the main water management challenges in Europe will be the operations, maintenance, upgrading, and renovation of the infrastructure. This implies that water and wastewater services should be managed in an economically and environmentally sustainable fashion.

This paper presents a study aimed at measuring the efficiency of the transmission segment of the US natural gas industry from an economic perspective. The gas transmission infrastructure is modeled as an economic production function and a multi-stage modeling approach based on the implementation of Data Envelopment Analysis is employed to obtain an efficiency measure in a two-dimension performance space, i.e., cost and revenue-efficiency. This approach allows taking into account conflicting business goals. The study also performs cluster analysis to uncover homogeneous efficiency profiles relative to the gas transmission systems to explore determinants of efficiency rates, and trade-off situations. A sample containing 80 US gas transmission systems is used in the analysis. Results indicate that the transmission segment of the US gas industry has considerable inefficiencies, while average cost and revenue-efficiency scores are 0.324 and 0.301, and only three transmission systems achieve high scores on both efficiency dimensions. Cluster analysis identified seven configurations. In three of them there are no trade-off situations between cost and revenue efficiencies. However, only in one of them gas transmission systems have high efficiencies. The remaining four configurations exhibit trade-off situations having different intensity. Such trade-offs can be determined by the gas transmission infrastructure size.

The consumer plays a key role in resource conservation; therefore, it is important to know consumer behavior to identify consumer profiles and to promote pro-environmental practices in society that encourage resource conservation and reductions in waste generation. The purpose of this paper is to implement a fuzzy model to evaluate consumer behavior in relation to three pro-environmental practices that can be implemented at the household level, including reductions in resource consumption (reduce), reuse of resources (reuse), and recycling (recycle). To identify socio-demographic profiles that characterize an environmentally responsible consumer, 2831 surveys were applied on a representative sample of consumers residing in a Mexican city. Fuzzy logic and neural networks were applied using a Sugeno-type subtractive clustering to determine each profile. The model input variables were socioeconomic status, age, education level, monthly income, occupation and the type of organizations with which the consumer is affiliated. The output variables were represented by pro-environmental practices. Results show that the consumer practices are performed independently of each other, with the most frequent pro-environmental consumer practices being reduction and reuse.

This study attempt to identify the various aspects of the traditional market, which have suffered from the marginalization caused by rapid expansion and penetration of modern supermarkets and other large retailers. As a way out, this recommends various protection strategies, which are based on provisions of constitution and legislation and/or enacting new ones. Providing legal protection to sources of livelihood is common practice in many developed nations, where weak players are shielded from foreign player and is also evident in other sectors and institutional aspects of broader economy. This study recommends certain models of traditional market development, which makes it a vital source of reference for various parties, market managers, governments, local universities, and others.

The Spa industry in Taiwan has been identified as one of the fastest growth industry. As the result, this industry has become one of vital sectors of the Taiwan Economy. The present study will use case company which is experiencing fast business growing in spa. There are twenty spa centers will be measured its efficiency by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Meta-frontier.
The inputs chosen for the DEA Model used in this study including Total Operating Cost and Treatment Room and for the outputs are Total Revenue and Number of Customers. The findings show that there are 3 spa branches operating efficiently in central area, 2 spa branches operating efficiently in northern area.
Afterward, continued to run Meta-frontier analysis in both areas. The result shows that there are only two spa branches from twenty samples are identified as efficient spa branches. This study suggests to the management of spa to take some actions by input reductions and/or augment the outputs in order to increase the efficiency.