Performance assessment of storm water systems: framework and application results

Abstract

Performance assessment has not been a common practice within storm water systems’ manage-ment, although it has proven to be an important tool in other water systems. In this context, it has been developed a performance assessment framework for storm water systems (SWS), focused on the functional component of systems, based on the definition of objectives, assessment crite-ria and performance indicators (PI). The main purpose of the present work was to apply the per-formance assessment framework with the collaboration of a Portuguese water utility, in the Al-mada municipality. It was developed a performance assessment system (PAS) by selecting objec-tives related to protection of public health and safety, infrastructural and economic sustainabil-ity, sustainable use of resources and provision of ecological and amenity benefits, and then it was calculated the performance indicators related to 2018. This application revealed that there were still areas with some vulnerabilities in terms of flooding occurrences and that parts of the storm water infrastructure needed great rehabilitation investment. Many performance indicators were not analysed due to lack of information. It was suggested data collection procedures to the water utility to overcome this problem and to be able to implement PAS in their management pro-gramme.