Service quality regulationSQ2BProduce and publish analytic reports to track progress on service quality

The National Superintendency of Sanitation Services (SUNASS) is the country’s public regulator, which publishes quarterly bulletins on its website with important information on the drinking water and basic sanitation sector. Although these reports do not follow a pre-established structure, they generally include information on provider performance in areas such as aqueduct service interruptions, sewage network blockages, number of complaints, number of appeals, sanctioned companies and SUNASS management of user queries, among other issues.

On its website, SUNASS also publishes results on the achievement of management goals by each provider on Excel-type formats displaying each indicator. These reports show the annual goals for each five-year period as defined by each company, the executed values as well as individual and global compliance rates.

The Drinking Water and Sanitation Services Regulator (ERSAPS) is responsible for regulating and monitoring the provision of drinking water and sanitation services on all of the national territory. As part of its functions, the agency implemented the Drinking Water and Sanitation Regulatory Information System (SIRAPS), which contains a database of technical, economic and operational aspects related to service provision.

Using the information on SIRAPS, the regulator generates management indicators for specific aspects of operator management and general service aspects such as coverage, water quality, continuity and water availability, among others. The result of all these analyses is reflected in annual reports published on the regulator’s website called ‘Drinking Water and Sanitation in Honduras. Urban and Rural Indicators,’ which detail information on water and sanitation service management by the 28 urban providers and over 500 Water Administration Boards operating in rural and peri-urban areas throughout the country.

In France, all water and sanitation services are publicly owned and fall within the responsibility of municipal authorities. Municipal authorities are free to choose their own method for managing the service, either by direct management or delegated management.

Whatever was chosen, the public authority remains responsible for the quality, smooth operation, and sustainability of its service. Much of this relies on regulation, through the promotion of service performance and best practices that enable operators to achieve a certain quality of service and to guarantee consumer satisfaction.

A list of 29 statutory performance indicators is to be calculated annually by each collective or non-collective sanitation and water service, with this data then collated by the observatory on public water and sanitation services.

Initiated in November 2009 by the French National Agency for Water and Aquatic Environments (Onema), the observatory on public water and sanitation services is a tool for local authorities and service operators to help them assess general performance, improve their services, and monitor changes annually.