An Evaluation of Water Supply Ownership in Europe

1 Abstract This thesis deals with the topic of effective ownership structures in the water supply industry in Europe. It gives background information on the types of ownership and the cooperation between public and private sector. Furthermore, it gives an overview of state regulation and the competetive nature of the water supply market and explains how the water is priced by the companies. The core of the thesis is the evaluation of performance and effectiveness of private and public entities in water supply. Past literature and research are discussed regarding the performance of each sector and the case of Italian water supply services is given leading to reasons for water privatization. This work further develops the effectiveness of public-private partnership with regards to water provision. Moreover the multiple regression analysis shows the dependence of water tariffs on privatization level, competition, the amount of the freshwater resources and volume of abstraction, and 'richness' of selected European regions. This gives a reasoning of water price setting and shows the influence of ownership on the level of the tariffs. This paper provides not only solid understanding of the effective water supply ownership issue, but also provides a base and suggestions for further research. Keywords water supply,..