The aim of this study is to determine whether, in small municipalities, drinking water services are supplied more efficiently under direct public provision or through inter-municipal cooperation. This analysis focuses on the use made of installed capacity, examining whether similar-sized municipalities have optimised their fixed infrastructure and/or physical inputs. A sample of 750 Spanish municipalities, each with fewer than 5000 inhabitants, was analysed, with data for the period 2014–2016, using a new order-m directional method with data panel and calculating the technological gap ratio, to evaluate the impact of different management forms on the efficiency obtained, thus measuring the use made of installed capacity. The main results obtained show that municipal direct management is more cost efficient but that inter-municipal cooperation makes better use of installed capacity. However, in similar-sized municipalities there are no significant differences in the latter respect according to the management form adopted, and therefore the differences observed in cost efficiency between the two management forms are associated with variable costs.

这项研究的目的是确定在小城市中，在直接公共供应下还是通过市际合作更有效地提供饮用水服务。该分析着重于利用装机容量，检查类似规模的市政当局是否已优化其固定基础设施和/或有形投入。分析了750个西班牙直辖市的样本，每个居民少于5000人，并使用2014年至2016年期间的数据，使用了一种新的基于数据的方向定向m方法和数据面板，并计算了技术差距比率，以评估不同地区的影响。管理表格上获得的效率，从而衡量所使用的装机容量。获得的主要结果表明，市政直接管理的成本效益更高，但市际合作可以更好地利用装机容量。但是，在类似规模的市政当局中，根据所采用的管理形式，在后者方面没有显着差异，因此，在两种管理形式之间观察到的成本效率差异与可变成本相关。