Leveraging water utility customer reporting for resilient operations and management

Water utilities collect information from various sources to gain continuous insights into the state of drinking water systems. Among the available data types, service problems that customers report are critical sources of information-especially during emergencies-which allow utilities to gage the impact of system operations on the resulting level of service. While some utilities increasingly collect and analyze customer reporting data to track key performance indicators (e.g., total complaints, response times), this information remains largely underutilized in research and practice. Further, little is known about spatial variations in the quantity or types of problems reported, which can indicate disparities in level of service and customer engagement. Here, we identify and compare spatial patterns in customer reporting against technical system performance and evaluate how trends change during emergency events (e.g., natural disasters). Our analysis demonstrates tightly coupled sociotechnical interdependencies between end user populations and drinking water systems. For instance, results reveal the prevalence of service problems in certain areas and show that several sociodemographic character-istics were statistically different in areas with higher or lower reporting levels. Finally, we offer recommenda-tions for incorporating customer data into operational decision making and outreach efforts.