Key performance indicators for small and medium-sized urban water systems in a semi-arid region: a case study of Okanagan Valley, Canada

ABSTRACT

Drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater are three components of an Urban Water System. Maintenance of these components requires evaluation of the existing performance of the water system. The evaluation becomes more significant in small and medium-sized water systems because these systems wrestle with various constraints, such as insufficient funds, inadequate infrastructure and water governance. In this study, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are identified for each UWS component considering six performance criteria. A questionnaire was distributed to water utilities across the Okanagan Valley. KPIs were identified by combining Delphi technique and Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation methods. Ninety-six KPIs were identified with 39, 30, and 27 KPIs for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater. Based on the available literature, agriculture water use, low impact development implementation (LID), average annual life cycle investment, and swimming advisories are a few notable KPIs that are unique to the Valley.

KEYWORDS:

• Key performance indicator
• small and medium-sized water systems
• drinking water
• wastewater
• stormwater

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed https://doi.org/10.1080/1573062X.2023.2179927

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the representatives from ten municipalities for participating in the survey in selecting the Key Performance Indicators. In addition, the authors express their sincere gratitude to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada for the financial assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).