Sewerage infrastructure asset management based on a consumer-centric approach

Abstract

In most developed countries, such as the USA, the E.U., and East Asia, the importance of public infrastructure asset management has been stressed for a long time. Among the various types of public infrastructure, sewerage systems are one of the most cost-intensive facilities to manage. Sewerage systems are considered highly difficult to manage due to the undetermined level of service needed, different standards of user satisfaction, and the large gap of service understanding between experts and users. To address these issues, this study aims to define the appropriate target level of service improvement by combining consumers’ expected level of service and complaint data. In this study, the case of the inland flood management project in South Korea is investigated because of the global trend of increasing flood damage. The complaint data represent the frequency of flood damage in the area. Using the contingent valuation method, we found that people want to use 25% of their current monthly sewage bill on the management project. In addition, the results of this study demonstrate that people prefer to deal with the problems caused by old service infrastructure when it can be handled at a lower cost during early stages.

Investigating Heterogeneous Consumer Preference for Sustainable Sewerage Asset Management: The Case of South Korea

“…However, as public infrastructure, such as sewerage systems, directly leads to residents' comfort and satisfaction, it is important to maintain high-quality service levels for service beneficiaries [22]. Furthermore, some studies have noted that, even in the public service area, it is important to use complaint data to determine consumer satisfaction and understand consumer service demand [13,18,22]. Successful consumer-centric asset management is considered a strategic business tool that has a positive impact not only on the satisfaction of providers and beneficiaries, but also on business profitability [3,23].…”

“…Governments have recently focused on sustainable sewerage infrastructure asset management [5,11,12]. Sewerage infrastructure asset management is a systematic process and effort to operate physical sewerage facilities in a cost-and energy-effective way to meet customer requirements [2,4,5,[11][12][13][14][15]. Countries with advanced social overhead capital (SOC) investment, such as the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S., have already developed their own asset management strategies for decades.…”

“…Although various types of technologies to enhance their energy efficiency and reduce costs have been developed, setting the appropriate criteria for long-term decision-making is also required, as it is impossible to apply all of them [17]. In addition, despite the important economic burden owing to the limited budget, it is still insufficient to develop cost-effective management systems to enhance system efficiency while considering service beneficiaries' satisfaction [13,18].…”