A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Water Engineering and Management

Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2009

The Drinking Water Company (DWC) of Kashgar is a government agency in China and responsibilities are to supply clean water to inhabitants, residential areas, enterprises and public institutions and administrative offices. The water utility is faced with problems of unaccounted for water and lack of efficiency and effectiveness in the management of the infrastructure which affected its serves to the growing population. Therefore, evaluation of existing water supply system is required to identify problems and appropriate measures to improve the water supply services in the city. The broad objective of this study is to assess the water utilization pattern of DWC and to evaluate the existing water supply system in Kashgar City, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), P. R. China. Take consideration to various performance indicators and find out the problems of water services of DWC in Kashgar. Review institutional setting and governance systems of DWC to suggest achieve equitable and acceptable water policy in Kashgar. The selection of the performance indicators is based on the availability of data and suggested indicators by several agencies such as WHO, ADB{u2018}s Water Utilities Data Book, The World Bank{u2018}s Benchmarking Start-Up-Kit, and the International Water Association (IWA). The evaluation covered customer satisfaction, water resources management, financial management, and human resources management. The evaluation of utility management is carried out using appropriate performance indicators (PIs) to find out what aspects should be improved. Questionnaire survey is conducted in a selected area (Kumdarwaza) of Kashgar City to obtain feedback of customers on perception of the performance of the water supply utility. The study reveals that three indicators should be paid attention, namely, water coverage, unaccounted for water and number of staff per 1,000 connections. These indicators show that the water supply utility has problems of coverage and efficiency, compared to other selected water supply utilities. The customers are satisfied with overall performance of water supply utility. However, age for water quality perception, water use purpose and believe in risk of water related illness in water usage for water quality perception are perceived as aspects that need improvement. Based on X2 test,the age factors have significant relationship for water quality perception, water use purpose and believe in risk of water related illness in water usage for water quality. This study also considerate that implementation of urban water supply policy is assumed to cater the inefficiency in the existing water supply system along with the improvements in service delivery standards and other management schemes. Based on the study findings, appropriate recommendations are made to improve the overall performance of the water supply utility.