Evaluating Operational Risk in Circular Water Systems in Indonesian Wastewater Treatment Plants
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21632/Keywords:
Circular Water, Risk Management, EnvironmentAbstract
This study examines the implementation of operational risk management in Tirta Selaras, a pseudonym for a regional water utility company. A qualitative case study was conducted through interviews, field observations and document analysis. ISO 31000:2018, PESTLE, and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) were integrated to provide a comprehensive assessment of risk management. FMEA identifies political, social and economic risks as the most critical failure modes affecting operational performance. The findings indicate that operational risks arise from standard operating procedures that do not fully align with policy changes; limited operator competence; and rising maintenance costs during operational disruptions. The study recommends strengthening Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) governance; providing regular employee training and refreshment; enhancing preventive maintenance; and reinforcing compliance to support the resilience of circular water operations.
References
Alizadeh, S. S., Solimanzadeh, Y., Mousavi, S., & Safari, G. H. (2022). Risk assessment of
physical unit operations of wastewater treatment plant using fuzzy FMEA method: a
case study in the northwest of Iran. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 194(9).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-022-10248-9
Carrard, N., Kumar, A., Đinh Văn, Đ., Kohlitz, J., Retamal, M., Taron, A., Neemia, N., &
Willetts, J. (2024). 8Rs for circular water and sanitation systems: Leveraging circular
economy thinking for safe, resilient and inclusive services. Environmental
Development, 52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envdev.2024.101093
Ellet, W. (2018). Case Study Handbook A Student’s Guide.
Farfán Chilicaus, G. C., Cruz Salinas, L. E., Silva León, P. M., Lizarzaburu Aguinaga, D.
A., Vera Zelada, P., Vera Zelada, L. A., Luque Luque, E. O., Licapa Redolfo, R., &
Ramos Farroñán, E. V. (2025). Circular Economy and Water Sustainability: Systematic
Review of Water Management Technologies and Strategies (2018–2024). In
Sustainability (Switzerland) (Vol. 17, Issue 14). Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing
Institute (MDPI). https://doi.org/10.3390/su17146544
Gramlich, D., & Walker, T. (2023). Water risk modeling: A framework for finance. Journal
of Environmental Management, 342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117991
Hernández-Chover, V., Castellet-Viciano, L., Fuentes, R., & Hernández-Sancho, F. (2023).
Circular economy and efficiency to ensure the sustainability in the wastewater
treatment plants. Journal of Cleaner Production, 384.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.135563
Huang, J., You, J. X., Liu, H. C., & Song, M. S. (2020). Failure mode and effect analysis
improvement: A systematic literature review and future research agenda. In Reliability
Engineering and System Safety (Vol. 199). Elsevier Ltd.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2020.106885
International Organization for Standardization (ISO). (2018). Risk management - guidelines
(Second edition). British Standards Institution (BSI).
Jafari, A. J., Tangestani, M., Kermani, M., & Kalantary, R. R. (2025). Holistic health and
environmental risk assessment of PM and bioaerosol emissions in hospital waste and
wastewater departments using FMEA and DMRA methods. One Health, 21.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.onehlt.2025.101182
Kähkönen, A. K., Marttinen, K., Kontio, A., & Lintukangas, K. (2023). Practices and
strategies for sustainability-related risk management in multi-tier supply chains.
Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 29(3).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pursup.2023.100848
Kardos, P., Lahuta, P., & Hudakova, M. (2021). Risk Assessment Using the FMEA method
in the Organization of Running Events. Transportation Research Procedia, 55, 1538–
1546. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2021.07.143
Kementerian PPN/Bappenas. (2025). Rencana Pengamanan Sanitasi Berketahanan Iklim.
KLKH. (2023). Laporan kinerja Direktorat Pengendalian Pencemaran Air tahun 2023.
Kumar, B., Kumar, A., Sassanelli, C., & Kumar, L. (2025). Exploring the role of finance in
driving circular economy and sustainable business practices. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 486, 144480. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2024.144480
Ma, W., Li, X., & Wang, X. (2021). Water Saving Management Contract, identification and
ranking of risks based on life cycle and best-worst method. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127153
International Research journal of Business Studies
16
Marques, R. C., Pinto, F. S., & Miranda, J. (2023). Inclusivity, resilience, and circular
economy of water services: Embracing a sustainable water future. In Utilities Policy
(Vol. 85). Elsevier Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jup.2023.101685
Mathiang, J. M. M., & Djakman, C. D. (2023). Implementation Of Risk Management in
Solid Waste Management (SWM) To Enhance The Quality Of Life (A Case Study Of
Pt. Arta Asia Putra). Jurnal Akuntansi Trisakti, 10(2), 209–224.
https://doi.org/10.25105/jat.v10i2.18171
Meiryani, Huang, S. M., Soepriyanto, G., Audrelia, J., Fahlevi, M., Aljuaid, M., &
Grabowska, S. (2022). An exploration of circular water management accountability: A
case from Indonesia. Heliyon, 8(9). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10556
Morseletto, P., Mooren, C. E., & Munaretto, S. (2022). Circular Economy of Water:
Definition, Strategies and Challenges. Circular Economy and Sustainability, 2(4),
1463–1477. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43615-022-00165-x
Piubello Orsini, L., Leardini, C., Danesi, L., Guerrini, A., & Frison, N. (2023). Circular
economy in the water and wastewater sector: Tariff impact and financial performance
of SMARTechs. Utilities Policy, 83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jup.2023.101593
Prendi, K., & Murrja, A. (2025). Identification of risks in circular economy practices: A
systematic review of academic studies. Risk Governance and Control: Financial
Markets and Institutions, 15(1), 130–139. https://doi.org/10.22495/rgcv15i1p13
Raya Shinta, F., Karnaningroem, N., & Mardyanto, M. A. (2019). Risk Management of
Wastewater Treatment in the Wastewater Treatment Plant of PT. X. In IPTEK Journal
of Proceedings Series (Issue 5).
Rodrigues, C., Martins, T. A. E., & Amaral, L. (2024). Wastewater treatment plants circular
performance models evaluation: Portugal case-study. Science of the Total Environment,
955. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177013
Salah, B., Alnahhal, M., & Ali, M. (2023). Risk prioritization using a modified FMEA
analysis in industry 4.0. Journal of Engineering Research (Kuwait), 11(4), 460–468.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jer.2023.07.001
Schultz, F. C., Everding, S., & Pies, I. (2021). Circular supply chain governance: A
qualitative-empirical study of the European polyurethane industry to facilitate
functional circular supply chain management. Journal of Cleaner Production, 317.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.128445
Tangestani, M., Jonidi Jafari, A., Kermani, M., & Rezaei Kalantary, R. (2025). Development
application of FMEA risk assessment model for indoor air pollutants in healthcare
organizations: Focus on suspended particles and bioaerosols in hospitals. MethodsX,
14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mex.2025.103342
Trubetskaya, A., Horan, W., Conheady, P., Stockil, K., Merritt, S., & Moore, S. (2021). A
methodology for assessing and monitoring risk in the industrial wastewater sector.
Water Resources and Industry, 25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wri.2021.100146
Tušer, I., & Oulehlová, A. (2021). Risk assessment and sustainability of wastewater
treatment plant operation. Sustainability (Switzerland), 13(9).
https://doi.org/10.3390/su13095120
World Economic Forum. (2025). The great narrative (20th edition). Forum Publishing.
Downloads
Submitted
Accepted
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Categories
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Laksmita Rachmah Deanti, Miranti Kartika Dewi (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Journal Author(s) Rights
For IRJBS to publish and disseminate research articles, we need publishing rights (transferred from the author(s) to the publisher). This is determined by a publishing agreement between the Author(s) and IRJBS. This agreement deals with the transfer or license of the copyright of publishing to IRJBS, while Authors still retain significant rights to use and share their own published articles. IRJBS supports the need for authors to share, disseminate and maximize the impact of their research and these rights, in any databases.
As a journal Author, you have rights to many uses of your article, including use by your employing institute or company. These Author rights can be exercised without the need to obtain specific permission. Authors publishing in IRJBS journals have comprehensive rights to use their works for teaching and scholarly purposes without needing to seek permission, including:
- use for classroom teaching by Author or Author's institution and presentation at a meeting or conference and distributing copies to attendees;
- use for internal training by the author's company;
- distribution to colleagues for their research use;
- use in a subsequent compilation of the author's works;
- inclusion in a thesis or dissertation;
- reuse of portions or extracts from the article in other works (with full acknowledgment of the final article);
- preparation of derivative works (other than commercial purposes) (with full acknowledgment of the final article);
- voluntary posting on open websites operated by the author or the author’s institution for scholarly purposes,
(But it should follow the open access license of Creative Common CC-by-SA License).
Authors/Readers/Third Parties can copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, as well as remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. Still, they must give appropriate credit (the name of the creator and attribution parties (authors' detail information), a copyright notice, an open access license notice, a disclaimer notice, and a link to the material), provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made (Publisher indicates the modification of the material (if any) and retain an indication of previous modifications.
Authors/Readers/Third Parties can read, print and download, redistribute or republish the article (e.g. display in a repository), translate the article, download for text and data mining purposes, reuse portions or extracts from the article in other works, sell or re-use for commercial purposes, remix, transform, or build upon the material, they must distribute their contributions under the same license as the original Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA).
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
