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e formed in 1974 and were subsequently floated on the London stock exchange in December 1989. At this point, combined, they had over 50,000 employees and assets valued at over ￡28 billion. The privatisation entailed a change in ownership, financing, and regulatory structure of the industry; consequently ten regional water authorities became public limited companies (plcs) (Saunders and Harris, 1994, Bakker, 2002). Recently a number of these have been acquired by overseas water companies, private equity players and larger asset management businesses.

 

There are three types of economy: the developed, developing and third world. In developed countries regulations and standards regarding water quality are very stringent. There is careful planning that goes into the infrastructure of the water supply and preparation for unforeseen circumstances such as droughts, by creating reservoirs. In the UK, the majority of households are metered, enabling the companies to monitor water usage and bill the consumer accordingly. The Office of Water Services (Ofwat) is the national regulator in the UK and sets the standards and return on capital (currently 6.6%). This is opposite to the situation in third world countries, where water supply is very basic with unmanaged boreholes in the ground.

 

Since the Dublin International Conference on Water in 1992, the management of water as an economic good has been promoted as a solution to the challenges facing urban water management in developing economies. This new approach has been associated with private sector participation where the World Bank (WB) is particularly active. The WB granted the Bolivian Government a US$13.3m low-interest loan in 1990 in order to finance development programmes (Nickson, 1998). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have also favoured privatisation (Paddon, 1998). Private sector investment is expected to facilitate and enhance efficiency. However, in practice, privatisation creates issues, (Lobina and Hall, 2000): such as management inefficiencies, restricted competition and corruption, excess pricing, excess profits and low water quality, together with problems in delivering development objectives.

 

There are three approaches that can be taken by countries with regards to the management of their water supplies. They can either be run by the public sector, governments can look to the private sector for investment or a combination of the two, in the form of Public Private Partnership (PPP). Wolf (1979) said that ‘the choice between public and private is a choice between the imperfect alternatives’.

 

Transnational corporations are enjoying significant opportunities for expansion. However, the assumption that private sector participation is the only possible choice for investment can be challenged. For example, in developing countries, private sector involvement in the water supply often conflicts with the public interest, which may mean that investment is harder to attract, and Publicly Owned E本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。