IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pwat00/0000179.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessing the viability of water utilities in North Carolina: A principal component analysis approach

Author

Listed:
  • Ahmed Rachid El-Khattabi
  • Elsemarie Mullins
  • Kathyrn Obenshain

Abstract

Utility viability is a significant issue for utilities in the water sector where service providers are expected to operate utilities in a way that ensures clean drinking water, adequate sanitation, consistent reliable service, and long-term sustainability, while also charging affordable rates and implementing efficient processes that conserve limited water resources. In this paper, we develop a quantitative viability index using multiple data sets for water utilities in North Carolina: socioeconomic, demographic, technical managerial financial (TMF), and climatic dimensions. To contextualize the results from the index, we also conduct a series of qualitative case studies that provide deeper insight into the challenges faced by water utilities. Our work points to several data gaps and limitations that should be addressed to better capture aspects related to utility viability.

Suggested Citation

  • Ahmed Rachid El-Khattabi & Elsemarie Mullins & Kathyrn Obenshain, 2024. "Assessing the viability of water utilities in North Carolina: A principal component analysis approach," PLOS Water, Public Library of Science, vol. 3(8), pages 1-21, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pwat00:0000179
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pwat.0000179
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/water/article?id=10.1371/journal.pwat.0000179
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/water/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pwat.0000179&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pwat.0000179?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pwat00:0000179. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: water (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/water .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.