1st Edition

Water Regimes Beyond the public and private sector debate

Edited By Dominique Lorrain, Franck Poupeau Copyright 2016
    228 Pages 19 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    240 Pages 19 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    In recent years the water sector has undergone profound institutional, economic and political transformations. Some countries have encouraged privatization of water services, but in many cases this has provoked adverse reaction to such a neoliberal and market-based approach to this common shared but essential resource. 

    This book goes beyond the ideology of the public versus private water regime debate, by focusing on the results of these types of initiatives to provide better water services, particularly in urban settings. It provides numerous examples of alternative models, to show who is responsible for implementing such systems and what are their social, institutional and technical-scientific characteristics. Policies are analysed in terms of their implications for employees and residents. 

    The book presents a new combinatory approach of water regimes, based on several international case studies (Argentina, Bolivia, China, France, Germany, India, South Africa and the USA, plus a comparison of three cities in Africa) presenting specific challenges for water models. These case studies demonstrate the successes and problems of a range of private sector involvements in the provision of water services, and provide examples of how small-scale systems can compare with larger-scale more technical systems.

    Introduction: What do the Protagonists of the Water Sector Do? 

    Dominique Lorrain and Franck Poupeau  

    Part 1: Unorthodox Models and Practices 

    1. "The Embedded Actor": A Water Joint-venture in Chongqing 

    Dominique Lorrain 

    2. "Delivering More than Water". The Salt River Project: the Invention of an Adaptive Partnership for Water Management 

    Murielle Coeurdray, Franck Poupeau, Brian O’Neill and Joan Cortinas 

    Part 2: Questions of Legitimacy: Private Interventions in a Public Service 

    3. Legitimacy in the Test of Time: Operating Water in Buenos Aires 

    Bernard de Gouvello  

    4. Water in Paris: Polity and Politics 

    Dominique Lorrain 

    5. The Partial Privatization of the Berlin Water Company 

    Thomas Blanchet 

    6. Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Service Management in Nagpur 

    Marie-Hélène Zérah and Cécile Renouard 

    Part 3: When Small Water Systems meet the Large Technical System 

    7. A Local Public Service: the Action of Small-scale Private Water Providers to Supply Peripheral Neighbourhoods in Three African Cities 

    Sarah Botton and Aymeric Blanc 

    8. Cooperatives in La Paz and El Alto: A Complementary System 

    Sébastien Hardy and Franck Poupeau 

    9. The Decentralization of Supply in Four Uttar Pradesh Municipalities  

    Rémi de Bercegol and Shankare Gowda 

    10. Water Disputes in Soweto. Inequalities, Social Mobilisations and Recourse to the Law 

    Julie Aubriot 

    Part 4: Conclusion 

    11. Lessons drawn from the Practices of Operators 

    Dominique Lorrain and Franck Poupeau

    Biography

    Dominique Lorrain is Director of Research (emeritus) at CNRS, Latts, Ecole des Ponts ParisTech, Paris, France. 

    Franck Poupeau is a Director of Research at CNRS and Director of the International Joint Center iGLOBES, based at the University of Arizona, USA.

    "With its clear focus on the ultimate policy objective of water for all and the practices that lead to the achievement of this goal, Lorrain and Poupeau’s book offers rich insights as well as inspiration for the future research agenda." - Olivia Jensen in Water Alternatives, 2019