The Private Sector and Water Pricing in Efficient Urban Water Management

This book focuses on participation of the public and private sectors in urban water management and on the role of water pricing. It discusses in-depth topics such as public choices of urban water service management; dynamics of privatization and regulation of water services; adoption of water demand instruments; impacts of price and non-price policies on residential water demand; quality of water services; lessons from not-for-profit public-private partnerships; and critical examinations of models and projections of demands in water utility resource planning in England and Wales. Appropriateness of water prices and tariffs in achieving socially desirable outcomes is also analyzed and a global survey of urban water tariffs is approached with a focus on sustainability, efficiency and fairness.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Management.

Cecilia Tortajada is the President of the Third World Centre for Water Management, Mexico.

Francisco Gonzalez-Gomez is Professor at the Department of Applied Economics, Faculty of Economics and Business, and Researcher at the Institute of Water Research, University of Granada, Spain.

Asit K. Biswas is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore.

Miguel A. Garcia-Rubio is Associate Professor at the Department of Applied Economics and Business, Faculty of Economics, and Researcher at the Institute of Water Research, University of Granada, Spain.