The Privatization of Residential Water Supply and Sanitation Services: Social Equity Issues in the California and International Contexts

Berkeley Planning Journal 13 (1999): 37-73
The Privatization of Residential Water Supply and Sanitation
Services: Social Equity Issues in the California and
International Contexts
Isabelle Fauconnier
This paper reviews the theoretical and policy debates behind the global wave of infrastructure services privatization, focusing specifically on water and sanitation services. It explores two questions: first, what is the place of social equity considerations in the rapid spread of privatization endeavors in water supply and sanitation services around the world? Second, why has the water services privatization movement been so much slower to catch on in the United States? Equity in water services is defined along three dimensions: physical access to safe drinking water, economic access or affordability, and access to planning and decisionmaking for the services. The paper briefly reviews cases in France,
Great Britain and Argentina, then examines the case of California in more depth, and shows how equity concerns are constructed differently in these various settings. After discussing the pricing and regulatory implications of privatization from an equity standpoint, the paper concludes with some directions for further research. Introduction
The role of government in the provision of infrastructure goods and services has changed dramatically, in both industrialized and developing countries, over the past two decades. Until the late
1970s, the public sector in most countries was judged to be in the best position to provide water supply and sanitation, electricity, telecommunications and public transport services, because these services were labeled “public goods” addressing “basic needs.” The private sector was deemed unfit for public service provision, since its main goal is usually to achieve profit rather than enhance social well being. In addition, central governments were often better able to mobilize funds for investment and service

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