Editing Water privatization (section)

==History==
[[File:Hampton Waterworks - geograph.org.uk - 476794.jpg|thumb|left|The Hampton water works serving London were part of the assets sold in 1989 as part of the privatization of water supply in England.]]
Privately owned water utilities were common in Europe, the United States, and Latin America in the mid and late 19th century. Their importance gradually faded away until the early 20th century as they proved unable to expand access and publicly owned utilities became stronger. A second global dawn of private water utilities came in the early 1990s in the aftermath of the [[Margaret Thatcher|Thatcher]] privatizations in England and Wales, the fall of communism and the ensuing global emphasis on free market policies.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Edwards|first=Chris|date=Winter 2017|title=Margaret Thatcher's Privatization Legacy|url=https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/2017/2/cj-v37n1-7.pdf|journal=The Cato Journal|volume=37|pages=89–101}}</ref> The [[World Bank]] and the [[International Monetary Fund]] played an important role in this process through the conditionality of their lending.<ref name=":12"/>

In England and Wales, the emergence of the first private water companies dates back to the 17th century. In 1820, six private water companies operated in London. However, the market share of private water companies in London declined from 40% in 1860 to 10% in 1900. In the 1980s, their share all over England and Wales was about 25%.<ref>Bertrand Dardenne:[http://www.afd.fr/jahia/webdav/site/afd/shared/PUBLICATIONS/RECHERCHE/Scientifiques/Recherches/02-Recherches.pdf Avant le public était le privé (before the public was the private)], in:Aymeric Blanc and Sarah Botton:Services d'eau privé dans les pays en développement (Private water services in developing countries), Agence française de développement, 2011, pp. 31, 35.</ref> The tide turned completely in 1989 when the conservative government of [[Margaret Thatcher]] privatized all public water and sewer companies in England and Wales. In Scotland local governments dominated by the Labour party kept water systems in public hands.

[[File:Paris Seine Quais 074.JPG|thumb|The water supply of Paris was operated by two private companies from 1985 to 2010, each serving one half of the city.]]
Meanwhile, the water sector in France has always been characterized by a coexistence of public and private management, with their respective shares fluctuating over time. The two largest private companies are [[Veolia Environnement]], formerly the [[Compagnie Générale des Eaux]] and then Vivendi Environnement, and [[Suez Environnement]], formerly Lyonnaise des Eaux and then Ondeo. The Compagnie Générale des Eaux was founded in 1853 and Lyonnaise des Eaux in 1880. In the late 19th century, municipal governments, dissatisfied with high tariffs and the lack of expansion of networks to poor neighborhoods, did not renew private concessions and created instead municipally owned utilities. The share of private water operators declined to 17% in 1936. The share of the private sector gradually increased to 32% in 1954, 50% in 1975, and 80% in 2000 using a new model. Instead of the concession contracts, which gave the responsibility to finance investments to the private company, the new lease contracts (''affermages'') made the private operator only responsible for operation and maintenance, while major investments became a responsibility of the municipalities.<ref name=AFD>Cezon, P. et L. Breuil: [http://www.afd.fr/jahia/webdav/site/afd/shared/PUBLICATIONS/RECHERCHE/Scientifiques/Recherches/02-Recherches.pdf Les PPP pour développer les services d'eau potable:quelques leçons de l'experience française pour les PED (PPP to develop drinking water services: some lessons from the French experience for developing countries)], in: Aymeric Blanc and Sarah Botton:Services d'eau privé dans les pays en développement (Private water services in developing countries), Agence française de développement, 2011, p. 56.</ref><ref>Guerin-Schneider, Laetitia and Dominique Lorrain:[http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15175987 Les relations puissance publique-firmes privées dans le secteur de l'eau et de l'assainissement (Public-private power relations in water supply and sanitation)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120919022040/http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=15175987 |date=19 September 2012 }}, in:Eau:le temps d'un bilan, La gazette des communes, Cahier détaché no. 2, 30/1752.</ref> The French water companies also escaped the nationalizations after the war and later under President [[François Mitterrand]], because the central government did not want to interfere with the autonomy of municipalities and was unwilling to finance heavy investments.<ref name="Dardenne36">Bertrand Dardenne:[http://www.afd.fr/jahia/webdav/site/afd/shared/PUBLICATIONS/RECHERCHE/Scientifiques/Recherches/02-Recherches.pdf Avant le public était le privé (before the public was the private)], in: Aymeric Blanc and Sarah Botton:Services d'eau privé dans les pays en développement (Private water services in developing countries), Agence française de développement, 2011, pp. 36-37.</ref> The water supply of Paris was privatized in 1985 when a conservative mayor awarded two lease contracts, each covering one half of the city. In 2010, a socialist mayor remunicipalized the water system of the French capital.

[[File:Barcelona-port.JPG|thumb|left|The water supply of Barcelona has been managed by a private company, Aguas de Barcelona, since 1867.]]
In Spain, private water companies maintained their position, budging the global trend during the late 19th and early 20th century.<ref name="Dardenne36"/> The largest private water company in Spain is [[Aguas de Barcelona]]. Initially created by French and Belgian investors, it was sold to Spanish investors in 1920, only to gradually come back under French control in the early 21st century.<ref>Aguas de Barcelona:[http://www.agbar.es/en/historia.html History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417222124/https://www.agbar.es/en/historia.html |date=17 April 2021 }}.</ref>

In Germany, a British private water company had set up the first piped water system and treatment plant in Berlin in 1852, but the city, dissatisfied with the lack of investment in particular in sewerage, cancelled the contract in 1873.<ref name="Werle">{{cite web |url=http://www.wasser-truck.de/pdf/Hintergrund_13_Berlinprivatisierung.pdf#page=11 |title=Zwischen Gemeinwohl und Profitinteresse (Between the Common Good and Profit Seeking): Erfahrungen bei der Teilprivatisierung der Wasserwirtschaft in Berlin (Experiences with the partial water privatization in Berlin) |first=Hermann |last=Werle |publisher=Brot für die Welt: Hintergrund-Materialien 13 | pages=26 | date=August 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325033828/http://www.wasser-truck.de/pdf/Hintergrund_13_Berlinprivatisierung.pdf |archive-date=2012-03-25 |language=de|url-status=dead |access-date=9 October 2013}}</ref> In 1887 [[Gelsenwasser]] was created, which remains an important regional water supplier in the [[Ruhr]] district. The German water sector has always been dominated by municipally owned utilities. Despite this, the water system of Berlin was partially privatized in 1999 for fiscal reasons.<ref>Beveridge, Ross (June 2017). [https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/56317122/WGWPVol4No2.pdf?1523711031=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DWater_politics_and_management_findings_f.pdf&Expires=1606579213&Signature=YbuUZFYC3mdqM9DGL9HYZcVWmpU1OJ6MaGikG1XLS9Xo~8UkanMQtxGd4rc4po87OsXEWD-5dpXjqUKBV38LY~jZsXLPUHiUSqki1IHKCmfDGufJ5kzItWDMTXlG2l9xHKGcmxtwM9LqeceqryPpOobkMJoFUmVDN7aUbvWPyY8WhekgaY3fSgQM4DPKsJqcF~ZV6ckJU1FUJk-s0Mav1LjExYAPo0ijMqyiTnZeFdVSk-S5OWVe9BHRXQyPiHfS7v25RCMsN3d5bmVlg5HrM04EARTjMMAO208mmWhBvHQS3FA6O65rodNM5yqOdqkzsrR6Q-LC-pPIFhUXw6cfrQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA#page=34 "The partial-privatisation of the Berlin Water Company in 1999 and urban development in 1990s Berlin"]{{dead link|date=May 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} (PDF). ''Waterlat-Gobacit Network Working Paper''. '''4''': 27–40.</ref>

In the United States, 60% of piped water systems were privately owned in 1850. However, this share declined to 30% in 1924.<ref>Melosi, Martin:[http://jhmas.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2010/09/16/jhmas.jrq060.extract The Sanitary City:Urban Infrastructure in America from Colonial Times to the Present], Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.</ref> As of 2010, 2000 water and wastewater facilities in the U.S. were operated under public-private partnerships, a joint effort between the private group and the municipality it was operating in.<ref>{{cite web |last=National Association of Water Companies|title=Public-Private Partnerships|url=http://www.nawc.org/our-solutions/public-private-partnerships.aspx|access-date=20 December 2011}}</ref>

In Chile, the Pinochet dictatorship established 1980 Constitution including the water laws that is a foundation of Chile's water systems. Additionally, the government enacted the 1981 Water Code, a legal regime that decide to eliminate the government involvement in controlling water system and allow citizens to possess rights to exploit water resources. Establishing this Water Code, the Chile's government achieved the water privatization, and this regime is still in force. Today, the government has reduced its power in water resources administration; therefore, 90% of the Chile's drinking water supply is controlled by the transnational corporations. However, this water system causes the imbalance of Chile's distribution of water rights. For example, since Water Code permits companies' to exploit water resources, 71% of Chile's water resources are utilized in irrigation which is equivalent to the annual consumption of 243 millions homes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Correa-Parra |first1=Juan |last2=Vergara-Perucich |first2=José Francisco |last3=Aguirre-Nuñez |first3=Carlos |title=Water Privatization and Inequality: Gini Coefficient for Water Resources in Chile |journal=Water |date=1 December 2020 |volume=12 |issue=12 |pages=3369 |doi=10.3390/w12123369 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2020Water..12.3369C }}</ref> The inequal distribution of water rights induces the scarcity of Chilean citizens' water resources, particularly in the drought.

[[File:Mani aigua008.jpg|alt=Jonannesburg against Water Privatization|thumb|Demonstration in Johannesburg, against the privatization of water, December 2008]]
European and local private water companies expanded in Latin America, Africa, and Asia in the second half of the 19th century, all while their importance declined in Europe. In Uruguay, water supply was privately managed from 1867 to 1950; in Buenos Aires, Argentina, for a brief period from 1887 to 1891 and again from 1993 to 2006; in Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt, from 1867 to 1956; in Beirut, Lebanon, from the 19th century until 1951; in Shanghai, China, from 1875 to 1949; in Casablanca, Morocco, from 1914 to 1962 and then again after 1997; in Senegal until 1971 and then again after 1996; and in Côte d'Ivoire from colonial times until today without interruption.<ref>Bertrand Dardenne:[http://www.afd.fr/jahia/webdav/site/afd/shared/PUBLICATIONS/RECHERCHE/Scientifiques/Recherches/02-Recherches.pdf Avant le public était le privé (before the public was the private)], in:Aymeric Blanc and Sarah Botton:Services d'eau privé dans les pays en développement (Private water services in developing countries), Agence française de développement, 2011, pp. 38-45.</ref>

In Central and Eastern Europe, private companies expanded during the late 1990s, especially in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania.

However, some water privatizations failed, most notably in 2000 in [[Cochabamba protests of 2000|Cochabamba]], Bolivia, paving the way for a new pragmatism and a reduced emphasis on privatization, and in 2019, [[Austria]] forbid the privatization of water provision via its constitution.<ref name="a-constitution-water-public2"/><ref name="a-report-constitution-water-public2"/>