Competition And Economic Regulation In Water

Competition and Economic Regulation in Water: The Future of the European Water Industry reviews the main developments in economic regulation and competition in the European water industry and considers ways in which economic regulation and competition should be further developed. The book focusses on the best means of regulating or introducing competition into the industry in light of its present structure. Competition and Regulation in Water: The Future of the European Water Industry concentrates on the water industry, however, many of the conclusions are equally applicable also to the wastewater industry. Contents Introduction Water industry fundamentals: the rationale for regulation and the scope for competition A framework for evaluating different models of water industry regulation England & Wales: private ownership and independent regulation France: competition for the market and contract-based regulation Germany: public-private partnerships and multi-sector utilities Developing water sector regulatory frameworks in less developed countries Appendix: The legislative framework for the water industry in England & Wales

Technical regulation of urban water services: The Portuguese regulatory model of water and wastewater services. An integrated approach; Experiences and conclusions from regulation in England and Wales; Experiences and conclusions from regulation in Australia; Experiences and conclusions from regulation in Denmark; Experiences and conclusions from regulation in Latin America; The German benchmarking experience. An alternative to regulation; The assessment of water services from the point of view of multilateral organizations. The experience of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB); Regulation in Spain from the perspective of the urban water services; Reasons that justify the regulation of urban water services in Spain; Can a regulator contribute to solve the problems of the urban water cycle in Spain?; Regulatory models. Conclusions

The purpose of this book is to develop a general economic model which integrates the quantity and quality issues of water resource management and to provide, along with a detailed criticism of the policy instruments now in use, alternative proposals concerning the efficient allocation and distribution of water. In particular we treat water as a multi-product commodity where the market plays a major role in determining water quality-discriminant pricing and its value to the user. We examine the process of moving from administrative allocation and regulation to privatization of the water industry as the key element in promoting effective competition and in providing economic incentives for greater efficiency. Water quantity and quality, considered independently of each other, have been the subject of numerous studies during the last twenty years. Let us recall briefly the most outstanding among them. A variety of models have been constructed concerning the optimal scheduling and sequence of water-supply projects: dynamic programming for solving multi-bjective functions in water resource development; planning models for coordinating regional water-resource supply and demand, etc. Other studies have devised water-quality management models, including multi-period design of regional or municipal wastewater systems; cost-allocation methods to induce effluent dischargers to participate in regional water systems; models to predict the quality of effluent (in particular, whether it meets certain established standards); models for finding optimal waste-removal policies at each of the polluting sources, and so on.

The public water supply, urban wastewater and urban waste management services are essential to the well-being of citizens, public health and economic activities. These are generally provided under natural or legal monopoly, so there is no incentive for utilities to search for greater efficiency and effectiveness and as such there is an increasing prevalence of such risks for users. For these reasons, society can significantly benefit from the existence of regulatory intervention capable of introducing greater balance in the relationship between utilities and their users. The Regulation of Water and Waste Services: An Integrated Approach (Rita-Ersar) presents a practical integrated regulatory approach to these water and waste services. This approach is called the ARIT-ERSAR model and it is capable of contributing to the promotion of access by citizens to these services that is tending towards the universal. These services are provided with suitable quality by utilities at socially acceptable prices and with an acceptable level of risk. This approach consists of a regulation model with two major areas of intervention: structural regulation of the sector and regulation of the performance of the utilities. The components of structural regulation are contributions to organisation, legislation, information and sectoral capacity building. The performance regulation of utilities consists of legal and contractual regulation, economic regulation, quality of service regulation, drinking water quality regulation and user interface regulation. Author: Jaime Melo Baptista, Chairperson of the Water and Waste Services Regulatory Authority, ERSAR, Portugal

Brings economic regulation to life by tracing theoretical insights through to real-world applications in eight essential regulated sectors.