A Review on Challenges, Opportunities and Outlook of Water Sector Privatization for Sustainability and Water Scarcity Management

Abstract

The sustainable use and management of freshwater resources is on the center of developmental debate and becoming a global challenge. The overall aim of this study is to document published literature in the field of water privatization, critically review them and to draw a conclusion about how private sector participation can contribute in the initiative of sustainability for freshwater. To accomplish the specific goal of this paper, review articles, research papers, mini-articles, book and reports of authorized organizations published from last 25 years were reviewed. Comparative advantages, problems, challenges and opportunities of private and public sector management in water resources were thoroughly analyzed. Based on those reviews, this study found that there is a mixed legacy in water privatization throughout the world which needs to be strongly regulated to fulfill the basic requirements of consumers in one side and for sustainable management of scarce freshwater resources in another side. Meanwhile, after careful analysis of various water delivery systems and case-studies managed by different agencies around the world, this paper postulates the pubic-private-partnership as an appropriate form of privatization in water which not only helps to increase the project efficiency but also improves the service delivery to end-users.