TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT: A BENCHMARKING STUDY FOR IMPROVING THE SEWAGE AND PORTABLE WATER SYSTEM

The topic of this Bachelor’s Thesis is Total Quality Management: A benchmarking study for improving sewage and portable water system in Lagos state Nigeria in the case of Helsinki Region Environmental Service Authority. The purpose of this research is to find a lasting solu-tion to the deterioration of the environmental service of Lagos state with a focus on the sew-age and portable water system through a benchmarking study of the Helsinki Region Environ-mental Service Authority’s administration. The theoretical section of this thesis describes the main components of total quality man-agement (TQM), starting with definitions, different theories and historical views of TQM, and the principles of TQM. In addition, supporting methodologies and techniques, quality awards and excellence models are briefly discussed with an emphasis on process improvement, quali-ty assurance and benchmarking theories- as these factors form a strong basis for this re-search. In the section on research methods, the development of the empirical research method is presented, with detailed description of the data gathering techniques used to access infor-mation. Much of the data was collected through interviews, brochures and information on the case company’s webpage. Qualitative research method was adopted for this study to ensure the authenticity, as the case company operates different department, hence quantitative ap-proach may not be adequate. The empirical section illustrates the application of theory in the improvement of the case company. In addition, a general overview of the case company’s operation is described, show-ing the organization structure, strategy of operation and quality model. Finally, conclusions and recommendations for the improvement of the quality of the Lagos state environmental service are provided. Findings indicated that the capital municipality environmental service was initially managed by 5 different companies, and in early 2010 the political decision was that this service will be managed by one company (Hsy). During this transition no major technical problem was rec-orded but administrative conflict on personnel orientation and management method to adopt emerged. Hsy planned to adopt the same system of environmental system in the capital mu-nicipality in the whole of Finland by 2014.

This research is being conducted for the Lagos state ministry of environment, which compris-es of the office of environmental services and drainage services. The main focus is on Sewage and water resource department under the office of drainage services. Sewage treatment, or domestic wastewater treatment, is the process of removing contaminants from wastewater and household sewage. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to remove physical, chemical and biological contaminants. Its objective is to produce a waste stream or treated effluent and a solid waste or sludge suitable for discharge or reuse back into the envi-ronment. This material is often inadvertently contaminated with many toxic organic and inor-ganic compounds. The objective of sewage treatment is to produce a disposable effluent, without causing harm or trouble to the communities and prevent pollution. The supply of water to Lagos from the beginning, had been a Federal responsibility under the Federal Ministry of Works, but this great responsibility was transferred to Lagos State in 1967 when the state was created. In view of the fact that rapid population growth in Lagos has posed a heavy burden on the public water system, there has been a continuous demand and need for expansion of the Lagos water supply and distribution capacities.

The Lagos state government has encountered deterioration in the environmental services for decades, despite the effort of the government to ensure sanity through different innovative programs such as Kick against indiscipline (KAI), Lagos waste management authority (LAWMA), Lagos state signage and advertisement agency (LASAA). Large amount of money has been spent to this sector but with no or little improvement, however the government has decided to conduct further research to curb the menace.

The problem that generated the need for this research is set to investigate how the Lagos state environmental service can benchmark the activities of the Helsinki environmental ser-vice of the Helsinki region to improve the menace and decadence in the sewage and portable water system of Lagos state. Sewage Management is one of the most visible problems con-fronting Lagos state today, management of sewage in the state in times past essentially con-sisted of haphazard and uncoordinated responses to sewage challenges; it has been more of management of the crisis occasioned by inappropriate sewage management; sewage dumping rather than disposal, discharge of raw sewage at legal and illegal dump sites in the state, di-lapidated dislodging trucks that discharge most of their contents on the road before getting to disposal points or even breakdown along the way, contamination of surface and groundwater, devalued and degraded environment. Cumulative effects have been adverse.

The purpose of the thesis is to benchmark the activities of the Helsinki environmental service authority otherwise called Helsingin seudun ympäristöpalvelut (Hsy), if answers are provided to the research questions, then Lagos State government will be able to benchmark Hsy and improve the basic quality of the environmental service in the State. Hsy is the regional au-thority providing environmental services for residents and companies in the Helsinki area and her main duties are water and wastewater management and providing regional information service for the inhabitants. The goal is to ensure that environmentally sound decisions and actions are enacted for all the populace in the region.

In the benchmarking study, the following areas have been of interest: What are fundamental issues undergone in the inception of the environmental services of the capital municipality?How does the municipality control the quality of their services?   What techniques were used, by what resources, how often the quality follow-ups are con-ducted? · What problems and barriers are faced, what are the values of this municipality in regards to environmental services, what are the demands the municipality have in regards to quality management today and in future? This survey will be focusing on two aspects of the HSY environmental services, which are:·   Sewage system·  Portable water treatment and supply