Validation and pilot assessment of Tanzania water supply resilience measures

Water supply systems (WSSs) face constant water contamination and breakdown risks during disasters. Several studies develop resilience metrics without validation processes to ascertain their suitability and applicability. The current study examines the validity of existing qualitative resilience tools developed through a pre-assessment of the variables, a three-round Delphi process, and tested in three cases for applicability and generality. Validation applied the tools development data through a six-stage assessment process: (1) Group opinions, (2) Convergency of opinions, (3) Reliability analysis, (4) Inter-items correlations, (5) Level of agreements, (6) Applicability and generality. The tool encompasses 47 indicators in technical, organisational, social, economic, and environmental dimensions. The variables show better content validity with strong group opinions, significant convergence of opinions, high reliability, adequate relationship pattern, and excellent agreement in about 98% of indicators. Besides, there is adequate applicability and generality, thus, the variables are considered valid for Tanzania WSSs and in other developing countries.