Performance assessment of urban utilities: the case of water supply, wastewater and solid waste

The importance of performance assessment in the water industry is demonstrated by the increasing number of initiatives taking place around the world. Since the first initiatives, which started 15 years ago, the topic has evolved significantly although it still presents challenges to be tackled. Five years ago, a project on performance assessment of urban infrastructure services was submitted to the European Union under the COST programme. As a consequence, the COST C18 Action was created. This paper presents the main conclusions and future key research areas from the project. In the solid waste sector, existing practical experience is less advanced, but methodologies and conclusions will be equally applicable in performance assessment projects.