Performance indicators and analytic hierarchy process to evaluate water supply services management in Algeria

The provision of an efficient water supply service (WSS) is crucial for the well-being of citizens and the sustainability of cities. This study aims to evaluate the performance of WSS using the results of a household survey and the ranking of performance indicators (PIs) by the analytic hierarchy process method. The methodology developed was tested for the case of the city of Taoura (Algeria). A survey was carried out among 340 residents of the city. The survey results showed that the majority of respondents (70%) were relatively dissatisfied with the quantity of water provided and 67% of households surveyed rated the quality of service as poor. Then, the performance was evaluated according to 5 decision criteria and 20 PIs. The results of the evaluation of the relative weights of the criteria are as follows: the ‘Financial and economic’ criterion plays the most important role, with a relative weight of 38.61%, followed by the ‘Operational’ criterion (24.7%) and the criterion ‘Physics’ (17.32%). The methodology used in this study can be a reliable tool for evaluating the performance of WSS in developing countries.