Abstract

Water pumping stations are a critical component of water transmission systems, ensuring reliable delivery of potable water while maintaining operational requirements and international standards. With the increasing focus on sustainability and energy optimization, improving the efficiency of pumping stations has become a key priority. However, there is a lack of structured benchmarking approaches to evaluate the relative performance of pumping stations across multiple operational factors. This study addresses this gap by applying a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) framework to evaluate the efficiency of water pumping stations. A multi-model approach is adopted, including the CCR and BCC models, along with the Slack-Based Measure (SBM) model, which incorporates energy consumption as an undesirable output. The analysis uses key operational inputs and outputs to provide a comprehensive assessment of performance. The results indicate variation in efficiency scores across models, with average efficiencies of 0.73 under the CCR model, 0.95 under the BCC model, 0.62 under the SBM CRS model, and 0.86 under the SBM VRS. The higher efficiency observed under the BCC model suggests the presence of scale inefficiency, while the lower scores under the SBM models reflect the impact of incorporating input slacks and undesirable outputs. Peer analysis demonstrates strong agreement across models, confirming the robustness of the benchmarking framework. DMU 16 is identified as the dominant reference unit, appearing 37 times, followed by DMU 15 (15 times), DMU 03 (14 times), and DMU 13 (13 times). The slack analysis highlights inefficiencies across the models, under CCR model, DMU 03 records the lowest efficiency score of (0.20), requiring a (79.9%) reduction in all inputs. Under BCC, DMU 08 exhibits the lowest efficiency score of (0.78), requiring a (22%) reduction in all inputs. The SBM CRS model identifies DMU 06 as the least efficient unit (0.13), with substantial excesses of (87.4%) in maintenance costs, in capacity (67.4%), in age (88.5%), and in energy consumption (84%). Similarly, under SBM VRS, DMU 05 records the lowest efficiency (0.52), with notable excesses in maintenance cost (28.8%), age (17.2%), energy consumption (60.9%), and a water delivery shortfall of (66.3%). This study demonstrates the importance of integrating radial and non-radial DEA models to capture both scale-related and operational inefficiencies, providing a structured and robust framework for performance benchmarking in water transmission systems.

Publication Date

4-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Engineering Management (ME)

Department, Program, or Center

Mechanical Engineering

Advisor

Dua Weraikat

Advisor/Committee Member

Ayoub Hmaidi

Advisor/Committee Member

Fuat Kosanoglu

Comments

This thesis has been embargoed. The full-text will be available on or around 5/3/2027.

Campus

RIT Dubai

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