Identifying Conditions that Support the Provision of High-Quality and Affordable Urban Drinking Water in the US

Abstract

Urban drinking water systems in the US face diverse challenges and stressors, threatening their ability to reliably provide safe, affordable drinking water. To effectively address these challenges, utilities must understand the complex relationships among the community, biophysical, infrastructural, and institutional attributes of their system and how they impact overall system performance. In this study, we conduct a comparative case study analysis of 16 large-scale US urban drinking water systems to identify underlying conditions associated with the provision of both affordable and high-quality drinking water. Using qualitative comparative analysis and nonnegative matrix factorization to analyze clusters of conditions related to diverse system attributes, we find that community attributes, including moderate population growth and low poverty, play a significant role in shaping affordability and quality (AQ) outcomes. Moreover, there is an association between biophysical challenges and the development of robust institutional and infrastructural attributes. Cities confronted by marked biophysical challenges seem to be at the forefront in fostering adaptive institutional frameworks and proactive infrastructural measures. Concurrently, our study reveals that a water utility’s commitment to conservation measures also impacts its performance in provision of affordable and high quality water. The study improves our understanding of the relationships between various attributes affecting the provision of affordable and high-quality urban drinking water. This can aid utilities in identifying pathways to ensure adequate service under increasing stress.