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Water Sector Benchmarking and Environmental Sustainability
Author(s) -
Gritsinin ALexander
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal ‐ american water works association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.466
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1551-8833
pISSN - 0003-150X
DOI - 10.1002/j.1551-8833.2008.tb09592.x
Subject(s) - benchmarking , sustainability , business , water sector , environmental resource management , resource (disambiguation) , water resources , best practice , environmental planning , environmental economics , environmental science , water supply , economics , computer science , environmental engineering , management , ecology , marketing , computer network , biology
This article discusses benchmarking in the water sector and the development of environmentally‐based performance standards, despite the focus on the operational, financial, and regulatory compliance performance of utilities. The article discusses the growing interest among water sector practitioners, together with rich, historic data that are generating a need for a comprehensive and systematic sector‐wide evaluation of the success of benchmarking initiatives. However, no internationally recognized program currently exists that adequately appraises and rewards water utilities that are excelling in protecting watersheds, maintaining adequate water flows to sustain river ecosystems (also called environmental flows), conserving water resources, and systematically implementing integrated water resource management. The article goes on to mention that, by designing and implementing its Blue Water Awards initiative (Richter, 2007), The Nature Conservancy is attempting to help utilities respond to these pressures by translating freshwater biodiversity and watershed protection and conservation goals into operational and economic objectives.