Evaluation of environmental sanitation through the proposition and application of population perception and satisfaction indexes

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to propose indexes related to the population’s satisfaction and the perception regarding the environmental sanitation’s systems. Known, respectively as the general perception index (GPI) and the general satisfaction index (GSI), they intend to provide to city managers or the sanitation company, a more realist view of the environmental sanitation, by considering the user as a center for improvement. The research was accomplished by the creation and use of a questionnaire with objective questions encompassing the sanitation. The indexes were elaborated for a small town in Minas Gerais as field of study. The city`s average on the GPI was 0.84, in a range of 0 to 1, indicating great perception among the citizens about sanitation. Regarding the satisfaction indexes on the sanitation components, the discrepancy of the values is high. As for the water supply system satisfaction index (WSSSI), the value was 0.58, due to occasional failures in supply or its intermittence in some neighborhoods of the city. Low values also demonstrated the municipal problems of urban cleaning, with a value of 0.55 for the urban cleaning satisfaction  index (UCSI) and 0.29 to urban stormwater satisfaction index (USSI). Regarding the sewage system satisfaction index (SSSI), characterizing the system’s coverage, the value is 0.93. Therefore, the results, obtained at the district level, allow the municipal management and the concessionaire, a diagnosis of the sanitation through user’s perception and satisfaction pointing out zones with deficiencies and that need interventions to improve the service delivery.