In recent years, the usual measure of service quality through recorded complaint alone in natural monopolies such as urban water service provision is regarded by literature as inadequate. The aim of this study is to develop and test a model customer satisfaction framework for assessing the performance of public water . t utilities in Nigeria; in terms of service quality from the customers' point of view, and ! identify priority areas for improvement. I A two phased qualitative/quantitative approach was adopted for data collection. Qualitative methods involved observation of complaint handling procedures at the customer care centres, customer forums and document scanning, using a pre- determined assessment checklist; individual interviews of water utility employees and key government functionaries, using semi-structured questionnaires; and customer focus group discussions to identify customers' important requirements. Quantitative method involved questionnaires derived from the qualitative data obtained during the exploratory phase; which was piloted, refined and administered face-to-face to a stratified random sample of 1,045 connected water utility customers across the ten service areas of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Nigeria, to determine the level satisfaction and priorities areas for improvement and encourage public water service providers to improve their performances, Findings from the obtained data showed an overall Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) of 73.4%. The customers living in the outskirts of the FCT recorded a lower minimum Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) of 63% and are less satisfied with the service quality provided by FCT Water Board. In comparison, the medium and low density areas recorded a higher minimum CSI of 71%. Also, among the satisfaction variables, reliability of supply predicts substantial (67%) variation in overall customer satisfaction, which in turn is the best predictor of service quality. The research findings also highlighted colour· and taste (water quality), as the most important customer requirements. Likewise, the priorities areas for improvement are (i) Billing; (ii) Reliability; (iii) Pressure; (iv) Helpfulness of staff; (v) Colour of water; (vi) Knowledge of staff; (vii) Taste and (viii) Courtesy of staff respectively. One major implication of the findings is that water service providers should improve the avenues of communication between them and the customers; and not see complaint and customer satisfaction surveys as an indictment, but as a tool for capturing customers' voice about the quality of service.

With an increasing world population and changing lifestyles, there is a relentless demand for water including for domestic water supplies. In order to manage water demand better, the amount of water used for domestic purposes must be estimated. A number of methods exist such as the micro-components method, which is recommended by the UK Environment Agency. Microsimulation of synthetic households is also used for demand estimation, which is an area of research that has a tradition in the School of Geography, University of Leeds. This research project follows in this tradition but extends the work by adding a behavioural component through information collected via a survey. Microsimulation is used to create a synthetic household population for the city of Leeds, which is the study area for this research. Using a Domestic Consumption Monitor (DCM) from Yorkshire Water, which contains the water consumption of a sample of households, water use is matched to the synthetic population to produce baseline demand for the city, which equates to 106 million litres per day or 148 litres per person per day, which approximates the UK average. The research then involved designing and administering a behavioural survey, which was informed by a review of other surveys that have been undertaken in the UK. The survey of more than 1,000 individuals was found to contain a representative sample by housing type and metered versus non-metered houses when compared to Leeds and England. Moreover, the number of water ecologists and water utilitarians was also evenly distributed. The results of the survey showed a number of findings regarding water conservation behaviour and measures that might encourage conservation. For example, water efficient showerheads, water displacement devices in a cistern, installing a water butt, installing a dual/low flush toilet and not washing food and vegetables under a tap are all behaviours that people would adopt in the future. The survey was then used to calculate the likelihood or probability that households would adopt a particular water conservation behaviour, disaggregated by different demographic variables such as housing type, tenure, age and social economic group. These probabilities formed the basis of scenarios in which the water savings from a particular behaviour were applied to the synthetic household population to determine overall water savings by ward and for the city of Leeds as a whole. Scenarios involving a single behavioural change and multiple behaviours together were investigated. A sensitivity analysis was applied to these results to consider over-estimation in both the probabilities of likely adoption of a particular behaviour in the future and the amount of water that would be saved by adopting the behaviour. The results showed that the maximum possible savings under the most optimistic multi-behavioural scenario is 30%. Given a more realistic scenario of adoption of the three most likely behaviours from the survey, the maximum potential savings are on the order of 7%.

The sustainability of municipal drinking water services in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria requires that its water utilities enhance their resilience to a range of risks posed by extreme weather events. Excellence in managing such risks is essential, not only to the bottom line and reputation of the utilities, but also to the wellbeing and prosperity of the people they serve and the preservation of nature in order to sustain ecosystem services. In the context of this study, organisational resilience has been defined as the adaptive deployment of the utility s assets and structures within its continua of inter-dependences to improve and sustain performance even in the face of repeated perturbations. On the other hand, vulnerability is defined as the utility s inability to withstand adverse stress based on limited or constrained capacity to adapt hence creating pathways through which risk impacts the utility. This definition of vulnerability is in tandem with those that argue that the key parameters of vulnerability are the stress to which a system is exposed, its sensitivity, and its adaptive capacity. In view of this, and also based on the findings of the study, the study notes that utility management could be a complex and challenging task, especially, in a multi-risk delta environment where extreme events are intense and frequent. Utility managers can become veterans of risks by dissipating, more than ever before technical competence, watershed/ecosystem awareness, social engagement skills and conceptual ability. The latter includes an understanding of how the complexities of the upstream and downstream environment impacts on the utility s internal environment and operations. The diffusive nature of risk makes every risk a potential high impact risk and the understanding of this, is the key to a resilient organization. Risk analysis and management in water utilities should aim to limit the diffusion of risks across streams in order to retard vulnerability. Utility resilience options will need to vary depending on climate related risks to each system, utility management goals, legislation, local and national water management strategies and finance. Utilities in the Niger delta needs to fully understand that they operate close to the edge by virtue of being below sea level and should cultivate a keen awareness of the consequences of flooding and saltwater intrusion, and the importance to manage them amongst others. The study has shown that there is need now, more than ever before for increased revenue generation, elimination of wastes/inefficiencies, financial investment and strategic management of water services operations in the study area if residents and the unborn generation are to be guaranteed of safe and adequate drinking water.