Applying SWOT Analysis to Manage Maintenance of Municipal Water Projects in Karbala City

Abstract This paper aims to study the maintenance management reality of four water treatment plants in Karbala governorate and indicate the problems that need to be addressed. Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) techniques were used to analyze the maintenance management. A questionnaire was prepared according to SWOT analysis requirements. The Delphi technique and the Likert scale were utilized and applied to several water stations, based on plans and reports of design, operation and maintenance, and field visits to these stations. To achieve this goal, a questionnaire was organized and conducted to obtain the opinion of experts in the business sectors in the areas of operation, maintenance, implementation, and planning of water filtration plants, the academic sector, environment, and technology, as input to the SWOT model. Three rounds of the questionnaire were sent to more than 100 experts varying in qualifications and experience, taking into account the issues of the elements required for SWOT analysis which are management and use of water plants and networks, human resources and manpower, budget, financial and economic affairs. The weight, relative importance, and implementation of each item in each SWOT element and issues were computed. The results showed that in the internal elements, the element of strength has a higher importance than weakness, and this points to the necessity of supporting, developing, and paying attention to these points. At the same time, this does not mean neglecting the weak points. As for the external elements, the elements of opportunities and threats are equal in importance, attaining medium importance. Here, despite the presence of the external elements and the degree of medium importance, this does not mean in any way to leave these points outside the circle of attention, as their equal importance calls for the necessity of paying attention to these points with the same degree of attention because they still have the same effect. For issues within the SWOT elements, it was found that in strength, human resources have less importance compared to the budget and cost, which are equally important with management and use, which calls for more attention to these aspects. Whereas, in weakness, the three issues are equal in degree of importance, and opportunities, the issues are also equal in degree of importance. This shows that the three issues have the same impact within the elements of weakness, opportunity, and threat, which calls for attention to them to the same degree.