Development of performance indicators for small Quebec drinking water utilities

This study presents a comparative performance analysis of small drinking water utilities in Quebec (Canada). The investigation bears on 10 utilities that use surface water or groundwater under the direct influence of runoff and apply chlorination as the only treatment before distribution. The utilities under study were divided into two groups: four utilities that had never or rarely provided water violating provincial drinking water microbiological standards (relating to fecal and/or total coliform bacteria), called nonproblematic utilities, and six utilities that quite often violated the standards, designated as problematic utilities. The objective of the study is to develop utility performance indicators capable of explaining current and historical distributed water quality. Indicators are based on operational, infrastructure, and maintenance characteristics of utilities that are integrated using a multivariable weight-based index. Results show that utility performance indicators are systematically better for the nonproblematic group of utilities as compared to the problematic group. Disinfection-related, infrastructure, and maintenance variables are those that most contributed to indicator values. Sensitivity analyses served to assess the impact on indicator results of excluding variables and changing their weights.