Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Dynamic analysis of residential and enterprise water supply and leakage efficiencies

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

With per capita water resources at only around a quarter of the world average, China’s water resources are limited and unevenly distributed. Past research on water resource utilization has mainly focused on industrial water use (agriculture and industry), water plant ownership efficiencies (private or public operation), or water resources and economic production; however, there have been few studies focused on water supply livelihood. Therefore, this paper considered both industrial production water services, non-production water services (public sector and residential water use), and water leakage losses, which is a water supply problem seldom mentioned in other studies. An undesirable directional distance function (DDF) dynamic data envelopment analysis (DEA) model was employed for the dynamic analysis as it was able to deal with both desirable and undesirable outputs at the same time. The model examined collected water supply and water leak efficiency data from 30 Chinese provinces/municipalities from 2007 to 2018, from which it was found that (1) Beijing, Gansu, Guangdong, and Ningxia had efficient water supply and water leak losses from 2007 to 2018 and the most improved province was Jiangxi; (2) the eastern provinces, in general, had better water efficiencies and the central and western provinces needed greater improvements; and (3) the lowest water leakage loss efficiencies were in Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi, and Heilongjiang, all of which required significant improvements.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

Not applicable

References

  • Abbott M, Cohen B, Wang WC (2012) The performance of the urban water and wastewater sectors in Australia. Util Policy 20(1):52–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allan G (2006) Assessing capital efficiency in the water and sewerage industry in England and Wales: Ofwat’s approach. Util Policy 14(4):224–233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ananda J (2018) Productivity implications of the water-energy-emissions nexus: an empirical analysis of the drinking water and wastewater sector. J Clean Prod 196:1097–1105

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ananda J (2019) Explaining the environmental efficiency of drinking water and wastewater utilities. Sustainable Production and Consumption 17:188–195

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banda EM, Mwale FD (2018) Utility performance in supplying water to informal settlements: a case study from Malawi. Util Policy 55:151–157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banker RD, Charnes A, Cooper WW (1984) Some models for estimating technical and scale inefficiencies in data envelopment analysis. Manag Sci 30(9):1078–1092

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barbosa A, Cesário de Lima S, Brusca I (2016) Governance and efficiency in the Brazilian water utilities: a dynamic analysis in the process of universal access. Util Policy 43:82–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barros CFA, Souza MBG, Barbosa FAR (2006) Seasonal mechanisms driving phytoplankton size structure in a tropical deep lake (Dom Helvécio Lake, South-East Brazil). Acta Limnol Bras 18:55–66

  • Barros CP, Managi S, Matousek R (2012) The technical efficiency of the Japanese banks: non-radial directional performance measurement with undesirable output. Omega 40(1):1–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bian Y, Yan S, Xu H (2014) Efficiency evaluation for regional urban water use and wastewater decontamination systems in China: a DEA approach. Resour Conserv Recycl 83:15–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bogetoft P, Färe R, Grosskopf S, Hayes K and Taylor L (2008) Network DEA: some applications and illustrations. Proceedings of DEA symposium

  • Buafua PM (2015) Efficiency of urban water supply in Sub-Saharan Africa: do organization and regulation matter? Util Policy 37:13–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Byrnes J, Crase L, Dollery B, Villano R (2010) The relative economic efficiency of urban water utilities in regional New South Wales and Victoria. Resour Energy Econ 32(3):439–455

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carvalho P, Marques RC (2011) The influence of the operational environment on the efficiency of water utilities. J Environ Manag 92(10):2698–2707

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang H, Choy HL, Cooper WW, Ruefli TW (2009) Using Malmquist indexes to measure changes in the productivity and efficiency of US accounting firms before and after the Sarbanes–Oxley Act. Omega 37(5):951–960

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charnes A, Cooper WW, Rhodes E (1978) Measuring the efficiency of decision making units. Eur J Oper Res 2(6):429–444

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen CM (2009) Network-DEA, a model with new efficiency measures to incorporate the dynamic effect in production networks. Eur J Oper Res 194(3):687–699

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chiu Y-h, Huang C-w, Ting C-t (2012) A non-radial measure of different systems for Taiwanese tourist hotels’ efficiency assessment. CEJOR 20(1):45–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chung YH, Färe R, Grosskopf S (1997) Productivity and undesirable outputs: a directional distance function approach. J Environ Manag 51:229–240

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • D’Inverno G, Carosic L, Romano G, Guerrini A (2018) Water pollution in wastewater treatment plants: an efficiency analysis with undesirable output. Eur J Oper Res 269(1):24–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Färe R, Grosskopf S (1996) Productivity and intermediate products: a frontier approach. Econ Lett 50(1):65–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Färe R, Grosskopf S (2010) Directional distance functions and slacks-based measures of efficiency. Eur J Oper Res 200:320–322

  • Färe R, Grosskopf S, Norris M, Zhang Z (1994) Productivity growth, technical progress, and efficiency change in industrialized countries. Am Econ Rev 84(1):66–83

    Google Scholar 

  • Farrell MJ (1957) The measurement of productive efficiency. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (General) 120(3):253–290

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferro G, Mercadier AC (2016) Technical efficiency in Chile’s water and sanitation providers. Util Policy 43:97–106

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferroa G, Lentini EJ, Mercadier AC, Romero CA (2014) Efficiency in Brazil’s water and sanitation sector and its relationship with regional provision, property and the independence of operators. Util Policy 28:42–51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gadanakis Y, Bennett R, Park J, Areal FJ (2015) Improving productivity and water use efficiency: a case study of farms in England. Agric Water Manag 160:22–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guerrini A, Romano G, Mancusoc F, Carosi L (2016) Identifying the performance drivers of wastewater treatment plants through conditional order-m efficiency analysis. Util Policy 42:20–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guerrini A, Molinos-Senante M, Romano G (2018) Italian regulatory reform and water utility performance: an impact analysis. Util Policy 52:95–102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Higuerey A, Trujillo L, González MM (2017) Has efficiency improved after the decentralization in the water industry in Venezuela? Util Policy 49:127–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu J-L, Wang S-C, Yeh F-Y (2006) Total-factor water efficiency of regions in China. Res Policy 31(4):217–230

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kao C (2008) Network data envelopment analysis: current development and future research. Asia-Pacific productivity conference

  • Landriani L, Lepore L, D’Amore G, Pozzoli S, Alvino F (2019) Decorporatization of a municipal water utility: a case study from Italy. Util Policy 57:43–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luenberger DG (1992) Benefit functions and duality. J Math Econ 21(5):461–481

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mbuvi D, De Witte K, Perelman S (2012) Urban water sector performance in Africa: a step-wise bias-corrected efficiency and effectiveness analysis. Util Policy 22:31–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mellah T, Amor TB (2016) Performance of the Tunisian water utility: an input-distance function approach. Util Policy 38:18–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mugisha S (2007) Effects of incentive applications on technical efficiencies: empirical evidence from Ugandan water utilities. Util Policy 15(4):225–233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nemoto J, Goto M (1999) Dynamic data envelopment analysis: modeling intertemporal behavior of a firm in the presence of productive inefficiencies. Econ Lett 64(1):51–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nemoto J, Goto M (2003) Measurement of dynamic efficiency in production: an application of data envelopment analysis. J Prod Anal 19(2–3):191–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nourali AE, Davoodabadi M, Pashazadeh H (2014) Regulation and efficiency & productivity considerations in water & wastewater industry: case of Iran. Procedia Soc Behav Sci 109(8):281–289

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Picazo-Tadeo AJ, Sáez-Fernández FJ, González-Gómez F (2008) Does service quality matter in measuring the performance of water utilities? Util Policy 16(1):30–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roekmi RAK, Chua LHC, Baskaran K (2018) Analysing piped water service provider performance based on consumer perceptions. Util Policy 55:79–89

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romano G, Guerrini A (2011) Measuring and comparing the efficiency of water utility companies: a data envelopment analysis approach. Util Policy 19(3):202–209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romano G, Guerrini A (2014) The effects of ownership, board size and board composition on the performance of Italian water utilities. Util Policy 31:18–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romano G, Molinos-Senante M, Guerrini A (2017) Water utility efficiency assessment in Italy by accounting for service quality: an empirical investigation. Util Policy 45:97–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • See KF (2015) Exploring and analysing sources of technical efficiency in water supply services: some evidence from Southeast Asian public water utilities. Water Resources and Economics 9:23–44

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • See KF, Ma Z (2018) Does non-revenue water affect Malaysia’s water services industry productivity? Util Policy 54:125–131

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shephard RW (1970) The theory of cost and production functions. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Silvestre HC (2012) Public–private partnership and corporate public sector organizations: alternative ways to increase social performance in the Portuguese water sector? Util Policy 22:41–49

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tone K (2001) A slacks-based measure of efficiency in data envelopment analysis. Eur J Oper Res 130(3):498–509

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tone K, Tsutsui M (2010) Dynamic DEA: a Slacks-based measure approach. Omega 38:145–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yan J (2019) Spatiotemporal analysis for investment efficiency of China’s rural water conservancy based on DEA model and Malmquist productivity index model. Sustainable Computing: Informatics and Systems 21:56–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Yao X, Feng W, Zhang X, Wang W, Zhang C, You S (2018) Measurement and decomposition of industrial green total factor water efficiency in China. J Clean Prod 198:1144–1156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang N, Zhou P, Choi Y (2013) Energy efficiency, CO2 emission performance and technology gaps in fossil fuel electricity generation in Korea: a meta-frontier non-radial directional distance function analysis. Energy Policy 56:653–662

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou P, Ang BW, Wang H (2012) Energy and CO2 emission performance in electricity generation: a non-radial directional distance function approach. Eur J Oper Res 221(3):625–635

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou X, Luo R, Yao L, Cao S, Wang S, Lev B (2018) Assessing integrated water use and wastewater treatment systems in China: a mixed network structure two-stage SBM DEA model. J Clean Prod 185(1):533–546

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou Z, Wu H, Song P (2019) Measuring the resource and environmental efficiency of industrial water consumption in China: a non-radial directional distance function. J Clean Prod 240(10):118169

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Fund in China, No. 71773082; Sichuan Science project, No. 2020JDR0079; and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. SCU-BS-PY201016).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Business School, Sichuan University, Wangjiang Road No. 29, Chengdu, 610064, People’s Republic of China

    Ying Li & Hongyi Cen

  2. Department of Economics, Soochow University, 56, Kueiyang St., Sec. 1, Taipei, 100, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Yung-ho Chiu

  3. Economics College, Sichuan University, Wangjiang Road 29, 610064, Chengdu City, People’s Republic of China

    Yushan Li

  4. Department of Business Administration, National Cheng Kung University, No. 1, University Road, Tainan City, 701, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Tai-Yu Lin

Authors
  1. Ying Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yung-ho Chiu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yushan Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hongyi Cen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Tai-Yu Lin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yung-ho Chiu.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable

Consent for publication

Not applicable

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Highlights

1. An undesirable DDF dynamic DEA model is proposed to explore water supply efficiency changes in China.

2. The eastern Chinese provinces tended to have better overall water supply efficiencies that the central and western provinces.

3. The best water supply efficiencies were in Beijing, Chongqing, Gansu, Guangdong, Ningxia, Shanghai, and Shaanxi.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Li, Y., Chiu, Yh., Li, Y. et al. Dynamic analysis of residential and enterprise water supply and leakage efficiencies. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 39471–39492 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13276-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-13276-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation