Quality of Urban Water Services Provided to Users: Assessment System and the Portuguese Path through Four Generations, Lessons Learned and New Challenges

Maria Adriana Cardoso (), Rita Salgado Brito, Catarina Silva, Susana Rodrigues, Rute Rodrigues, Alexandra Costa, Joana Cardoso, Catarina Jorge, Helena Alegre and Maria João Rosa
Additional contact information
Maria Adriana Cardoso: Urban Water Unit, National Civil Engineering Laboratory, LNEC, Av. Brasil 101, 1700-066 Lisbon, Portugal
Rita Salgado Brito: Urban Water Unit, National Civil Engineering Laboratory, LNEC, Av. Brasil 101, 1700-066 Lisbon, Portugal
Catarina Silva: Urban Water Unit, National Civil Engineering Laboratory, LNEC, Av. Brasil 101, 1700-066 Lisbon, Portugal
Susana Rodrigues: Water and Waste Services Regulation Authority, Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços de Águas e Resíduos, ERSAR, Rua Tomás da Fonseca, Torre G-8º, 1600-209 Lisbon, Portugal
Rute Rodrigues: Water and Waste Services Regulation Authority, Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços de Águas e Resíduos, ERSAR, Rua Tomás da Fonseca, Torre G-8º, 1600-209 Lisbon, Portugal
Alexandra Costa: Water and Waste Services Regulation Authority, Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços de Águas e Resíduos, ERSAR, Rua Tomás da Fonseca, Torre G-8º, 1600-209 Lisbon, Portugal
Joana Cardoso: Water and Waste Services Regulation Authority, Entidade Reguladora dos Serviços de Águas e Resíduos, ERSAR, Rua Tomás da Fonseca, Torre G-8º, 1600-209 Lisbon, Portugal
Catarina Jorge: Urban Water Unit, National Civil Engineering Laboratory, LNEC, Av. Brasil 101, 1700-066 Lisbon, Portugal
Helena Alegre: Urban Water Unit, National Civil Engineering Laboratory, LNEC, Av. Brasil 101, 1700-066 Lisbon, Portugal
Maria João Rosa: Urban Water Unit, National Civil Engineering Laboratory, LNEC, Av. Brasil 101, 1700-066 Lisbon, Portugal

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 21, 1-20

Abstract: Public water supply, urban wastewater and stormwater management, and urban waste management are structural public services, essential to well-being, public health, and the safety of populations as well as to economic activities and environmental protection. These services must be guided by principles of universal access, continuity and quality of service, and efficiency and fairness of applied tariffs. The main concern of the regulation of these services is the protection of the interests of the users through the promotion of the quality of the service provided by the water utilities and the guarantee of balance in the practiced tariffs, materialized in the principles of universality, equity, reliability, and cost-efficiency. The quality of the urban water services has been assessed by ERSAR (the Portuguese regulator) since 2004, when the first generation of the assessment system was developed, and has undergone three periodical critical revisions. The fourth generation, developed in 2021, entered in force in 2022. This paper presents the fourth generation of ERSAR’s system for assessing the quality of urban water services in Continental Portugal, focusing on the path followed and addressing the experience of its application over almost two decades, the lessons learned, and the new challenges for the water sector.

Keywords: assessment system; quality of service; services regulation; urban water services (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/21/15273/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/21/15273/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:21:p:15273-:d:1267116

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().