Regulation of Urban Water Services. an Overview.

Cover -- Copyright -- Contents -- Foreword -- Summary of the contributions -- Chapter 1: The need for the regulation of water services key factors involved -- 1.1 The Need for Regulation in the Water Sector -- 1.2 Singularities of Urban Water Services -- 1.3 Service Levels -- 1.4 Technical Regulation and Economic Regulation -- 1.4.1 Protecting the interests of users in terms of obligations of a public service -- 1.4.2 Promoting efficiency and innovation -- 1.4.3 Ensuring stability, sustainability and solidity of water and sanitation services -- 1.5 Basics of Technical Regulation of Water Services -- 1.6 Analysis of performance Assessment -- 1.7 Conclusions -- 1.8 References -- Chapter 2: Portuguese regulatory model for water and waste services: an integrated approach -- 2.1 How Important are Water and Waste Services? -- 2.2 What is the International Framework? -- 2.3 What Public Policies for Water and Waste Services? -- 2.4 What is the Role of Regulation in Public Policies? -- 2.5 What Must be the Regulatory Approach? -- 2.5.1 Regulatory model -- 2.5.2 Structural regulation of the sectors -- 2.5.3 Behavioural regulation of the utilities -- 2.6 What are the Conclusions? -- 2.7 Bibliography -- Chapter 3: Water regulation in the UK and its relevance to Spain -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 History of Water Industry in England and Wales up to 1989 -- 3.3 Scotland and Northern Ireland -- 3.4 The Development of Regulation in England and Wales -- 3.5 Office of Water Services (Ofwat) -- 3.6 Some Key Factors in Economic Regulation -- 3.6.1 Financing infrastructure -- 3.6.2 Determining the efficiency factors -- 3.6.3 Checking information -- 3.7 The Drinking Water Inspectorate -- 3.7.1 The environment agency (EA) -- 3.8 Water Consumer Council -- 3.9 Experience of a Regulated Water and Wastewater Service System Since its Introduction in 1990.

3.10 Water Bill 2014 -- 3.11 Relevance to Spain? -- 3.12 References -- Chapter 4: Water regulation in Australia -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Water Resource Characteristics -- 4.3 Catalysts for Reform -- 4.4 Council of Australian Governments Water Reform Framework 1994 -- 4.5 The National Water Initiative -- 4.5.1 The regulatory environment for water -- 4.5.2 Institutional arrangements -- 4.5.3 Water pricing -- 4.5.4 Benchmarking -- 4.5.5 Environmental and health regulation -- 4.5.6 Health regulation -- 4.5.7 Diversification of supplies -- 4.5.7.1 Water efficiency labelling and standards scheme -- 4.5.8 Consumer protection -- 4.6 Achievements and Room for Improvement -- 4.7 Future Directions -- 4.8 Conclusion -- 4.9 References -- Chapter 5: Regulation of water services in Denmark - a utility manager's perspective -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 The Danish Water Sector -- 5.3 The Danish Water Sector Reform in Brief -- 5.4 Price Cap Regulation According to the Water Sector Law -- 5.4.1 OPEX -- 5.4.2 CAPEX -- 5.5 The Danva Benchmarking System -- 5.6 Comparison of Benchmarking Systems -- 5.7 A Utility Manager's Evaluation of the Regulation and Benchmark in General -- 5.7.1 General observations -- 5.7.2 Specific observations -- Chapter 6: Experiences and conclusions about regulation in Latin America and the Caribbean -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 What is Regulation? -- 6.3 Contracts as a Regulation Method -- 6.3.1 Information access -- 6.3.2 Financial sustainability -- 6.4 Horizontal Structure of the Sector -- 6.4.1 Implications of globalisation -- 6.5 Conclusions -- 6.6 References -- Chapter 7: The german experience with a self-organised water sector - key factors for an alternative to regulation -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 General Characteristics -- 7.3 Legal Framework -- 7.4 Dimension and Structure -- 7.5 Competition -- 7.6 Role of Benchmark Activities.

7.7 Economic Challenges -- 7.8 Lessons Learnt from the German Case - Good Water Services Without a Regulator? -- 7.9 Conclusion -- 7.10 References -- Chapter 8: Assessment of water services from the perspective of multilateral organisations. The aquarating experience -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Challenges Concerning Regulation and the Value of Assessing Performance and Reliable Information -- 8.3 Aquarating Approach and Experience -- 8.3.1 Approach -- 8.3.2 From the perspective of the service provider, the following advantages are obtained from participating in a system such as AquaRating -- 8.3.3 Structure -- 8.3.4 Field test development and experience -- 8.4 Conclusions -- 8.5 References -- Chapter 9: Can a regulator contribute to resolving the main problems of the urban water cycle in Spain? -- 9.1 Introduction -- 9.2 The Urban Water Cycle: Objectives -- 9.3 The State of Affairs In Spain and in the World -- 9.3.1 Ageing infrastructures -- 9.3.2 Increasing pollution -- 9.3.3 Increasing urban populations and decreasing rural populations -- 9.3.4 Growing urbanisation -- 9.3.5 Climate change -- 9.4 Analysis, One Century Later, of the Water - Town Hall Binomial -- 9.4.1 Lack of professional capability by political decision makers -- 9.4.2 Lack of training by managers and technicians -- 9.4.3 Lack of environmental awareness by citizens -- 9.4.4 Atomisation of responsibilities -- 9.4.5 Standards of service quality pending establishment -- 9.4.6 Confusing rules of play when outsourcing the service -- 9.4.7 Prices and policy criteria -- 9.4.8 Lack of transparency in urban water management -- 9.5 The Pillars That Should Support Future Urban Water Management -- 9.5.1 Improve training by decision-makers (at the three levels - political, managerial and technical) and raise environmental awareness in society at large -- 9.5.2 Diagnosis of the current situation.

9.5.3 Designing strategic plans or the long-term commitment -- 9.5.4 Follow-up and update of strategic plans -- 9.5.5 Adopting measures to permit economic sustainability of rural communities -- 9.5.6 Establishing clear rules of play, whichever management method is used -- 9.6 Two Important Final Notes -- 9.7 Service Regulation - The Solution to a Large Number of Problems -- 9.8 Conclusion -- 9.9 References -- Chapter 10: Reasons to give grounds for urban water regulation in Spain -- 10.1 Stability in Investment Framework for Infrastructure -- 10.2 Need for Regulatory Body -- 10.3 Regulatory Perspectives -- 10.4 Indicators -- 10.5 Aquarating and Benchmarking -- 10.6 Standardisation of Regulations and Tariffs -- 10.7 Regulation of Tariffs in Spain and Possible Responsibilities -- 10.8 Example of Regulation in Similar Sectors: Energy -- 10.8.1 The spanish national energy commission (CNE) -- 10.9 Conclusions -- 10.10 References -- Chapter 11: International panel round table conclusions -- 11.1 The Debate.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.