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CSA PLUS 4010 (1st ed. pub 2009) TECHNICAL GUIDE: Performance improvement for small & medium sized water utilities
standard by CSA Group, 01/01/2009
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CSA gratefully acknowledges the financial contributions of the following organizations towards the development of this publication:
AECOM (Canada) Ltd and the National Water and Wastewater Benchmarking Initiative
Atlantic Canada Water and Wastewater Association
British Columbia Water and Wastewater Association
Canadian Water and Wastewater Association
City of Calgary
EPCOR Water Services Inc.
Halifax Water
Infrastructure Canada
Ontario Clean Water Agency
Ontario Municipal Water Association
Ontario Water Works Association
Niagara Region
Regional Municipality of Durham
Regional Municipality of Waterloo
Water Environment Association of Ontario
Western Canada Water and Wastewater Association
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ISBN 978-1-55491-211-7
Technical Editor: Jeffrey Kraegel
© Canadian Standards Association — 2009
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form whatsoever without the prior permission of the publisher.
TECHNICAL GUIDE
Performance improvement for small & medium sized water utilities
Foreword
This Technical Guide provides drinking water and wastewater utility owners and operators with practical tools to improve their utility’s performance. By setting objectives, and then using “performance indicators” to measure progress towards those objectives, water utilities (i.e., both drinking water and wastewater) can become more efficient and effective in their operations.
The approach used in this Guide is based on the work of Canadian and international experts. In 2007 the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) published a series of three standards that were developed by its Technical Committee 224 Service activities relating to drinking water supply systems and wastewater systems — Quality criteria of the service and performance indicators. These have been adopted by the Canadian Standards Association through its Technical Committee on Water Quality Management Systems, and have been submitted to the Standards Council of Canada for recognition as National Standards.
The series consists of the following Standards:
Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services — Guidelines for the assessment and for the improvement of the service to users (adopted in Canada as CAN/CSA-Z24510)
Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services — Guidelines for the management of wastewater utilities and for the assessment of wastewater services (adopted in Canada as CAN/CSA-Z24511)
Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services — Guidelines for the management of drinking water utilities and for the assessment of drinking water services (adopted in Canada as CAN/CSA-Z24512)
The first of these standards provides general information on customer service and the principles behind the use of performance indicators. The other two standards show how to apply these principles to wastewater treatment and to the provision of safe, clean drinking water.
These standards are now starting to be implemented throughout the world. They represent a new and significant advancement in using performance indicators measured over time to assess and improve the performance of water service and systems. The CSA Technical Committee on Water Quality Management Systems adopted these standards for Canada in order to ensure that Canadian utilities have access to current information on the assessment and improvement of their systems, and that this information is in line with best practices as developed and used in the international community.
This Guide was written with the needs of small and medium-sized water utilities in mind, but the principles and activities outlined here can be applied to utilities of any size. The number of performance indicators used should be proportionate to the size of the facility. A utility that serves a very small community might start with three to five indicators, while a utility in a major city could use as many as 50.
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© Canadian Standards Association
Although this Guide is primarily based on the ISO standards, it also draws on information from the following sources
National Water And Wastewater Benchmarking Initiative (NWWBI);
Canadian Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA);
Ontario Municipal Benchmarking Initiative (OMBI);
Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE);
The Report of the Walkerton Inquiry;
Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC);
Statistics Canada (StatCan);
Environment Canada (EC); and
Interviews with experts in the field.
Note: For more information see “Bibliography”, p. 34.
The CSA Technical Committee on Water Quality Management Systems gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Infrastructure Canada, the Canadian Water and Wastewater Association, and the other organizations listed inside the front cover in the development of this document. The Committee thanks Daniel Pelletier for preparing the first draft of this guide, and it also recognizes the important contribution of the Canadian Advisory Committee to ISO Technical Committee 224 towards the ISO standards, under the leadership of Mr. Duncan Ellison and with the support of the Standards Council of Canada.
CSA is a not-for-profit membership-based association serving industry, government and consumers. It has been a leader in standards development since 1919. Accredited by the Standards Council of Canada, CSA has published over 2000 standards for safety, design or performance of a wide range of products and services. Members are the heart of the CSA process for the development of standards. They come from all walks of life and include scientists, academics, environmentalists and technicians. They represent government, industry, labour and consumers. All of the CSA standards are the result of the knowledge and expertise shared by these members.
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TECHNICAL GUIDE
Performance improvement for small & medium sized water utilities
Acronyms used in this Technical Guide INAC — Indian and Northern Affairs Canada IWA — International Water Association
ISO — International Organization for Standardization
NWWBI — National Water and Wastewater Benchmarking Initiative OMBI — Ontario Municipal Benchmarking Initiative
PDCA — Plan/Do/Check/Act PI — Performance Indicator
WQMS — water quality management systems
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© Canadian Standards Association
Table of Contents
Foreword i
Acronyms used in this Technical Guide iii
INTRODUCTION 1
About this Technical Guide 1
How to use this Guide 2
PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR THE WATER UTILITY 4
What are performance indicators? 4
How are performance indicators used? 5
About the performance indicators in this guide 6
THE LINK BETWEEN PERFORMANCE INDICATORS AND WATER UTILITY OBJECTIVES 8
Introduction 8
OBJECTIVE A: Protecting public health 9
OBJECTIVE B: Meeting users needs and expectations 10
OBJECTIVE C: Providing service under normal and emergency situations 10
OBJECTIVE D: Sustainability of the water utility 11
OBJECTIVE E: Promoting sustainable development of the community 11
OBJECTIVE G: Protecting the environment 11
CREATING AND APPLYING A PERFORMANCE INDICATOR SYSTEM 13
Performance indicator system 13 Performance indicator framework 13 Performance indicator framework 14 Context information 14
Variables 15
Data and information 15
Example of a performance indicator 16
RECOMMENDED MINIMUM SET OF PERFORMANCE INDICATORS 17
Public health indicators 19
Users’ needs and expectations indicators 19 Provision of service indicators 20 Sustainability of the utility indicators 20
Sustainable development of the community indicators 21
Protection of the environment indicators 21
DISCUSSION OF DATA DEFINITIONAL NEEDS 22
Context information data 22
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TECHNICAL GUIDE
Performance improvement for small & medium sized water utilities
Variables data 22
Confidence grading for data and information 23
RECOMMENDATIONS ON HOW TO PROCEED IN SETTING UP A PERFORMANCE INDICATOR SYSTEM 24
Getting started 24
Implementation 25
Define objectives 27
Establish performance indicators and measures 29
Context information and variables 29
Assess performance 30
Process of continuous improvement 32
FINAL WORD 33
Bibliography 34
Appendix 1 — Core performance indicators 36
How to use this section 36
Public health indicators 38
Users’ needs and expectations indicators 43 Provision of service indicators 47 Sustainability of the utility indicators 51
Sustainable development of the community indicators 57
Protection of the environment indicators 61
Appendix 2 — Context information 67
Utility profile 67
System profile 70
Regional profile — Demographic, economic, geographic, and environmental con- text (drinking water and wastewater utilities) 76
Appendix 3 — Template for variables 77
Appendix 4 — Data confidence grading methodology 79
Appendix 5 — FORMS for implementation 81 Performance improvement team 81 Objectives used by the utility 82
List of PIs used by the utility 83
Context information (information from Appendix 2) 84 Template for variables (information from Appendix 3) 85 Assessment criteria and concepts 86
Continuous improvement concepts 88
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1 INTRODUCTION
About this Technical Guide
Utility owners and operators strive for continuous improvement of their water systems and the development of their staff. This ensures that they are able to meet and exceed users’ needs, are cost efficient and effective in the use of resources to ensure sustainability, and are meeting the applicable environmental and health regulations.
Three international standards have been developed to guide utilities in setting and meeting objectives towards improving their operations. These are being adopted as National Standards of Canada in 2009:
CAN/CSA-Z24510, Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services — Guidelines for the assessment and for the improvement of the service to users
CAN/CSA-Z24511, Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services — Guidelines for the management of wastewater utilities and for the assessment of wastewater services
CAN/CSA-Z24512, Activities relating to drinking water and wastewater services — Guidelines for the management of drinking water utilities and for the assessment of drinking water services
This Technical Guide was developed to assist utility owners and operators in the use of the CAN/CSA-ISO standards. It offers a consistent and standardized means of continuously improving their utility’s effectiveness using performance indicators. As stated by well- known management guru, Peter Drucker, “you cannot improve what you do not measure.”
This Guide also builds on existing quality standards published by ISO and CSA that incorporate the fundamental principle of “plan-do-check-act” (PDCA) as shown in the following diagram. The methodology is consistent with and supportive of ISO’s management system standards. Implementing an overall ISO 9001 and 14001 management system can help a utility implement the CAN/CSA-Z24510, Z24511 and Z24512 standards. At the same time, these standards may help to achieve the technical requirements of CAN/CSA-ISO 9001 and 14001 for organizations choosing to implement them.
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