H2O for All? Examining the Potential of Public-Public Partnerships in the Water Sector

Abstract

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) in the water sector involve a private company carrying out the act of water provision while the state retains ownership of the service’s assets, an approach taken by various countries of the global South in the early 1990s. Recently, however, there has been a return to the public sector for water service in some areas in the form of public-public partnerships (PuPs) which create links across levels of government and between government and other public bodies. Interest in PuPs has been stimulated by an observed failure of adequate water service provision by PPPs (Bakker 2003; Hemson et al. 2006; Swyngedouw 2004). This presentation aims to first present a new, textured typology of the different types of PuPs employed in the global South. The PuP typology has been created by surveying academic, government, business, union and non-governmental organization literature. Second, the positive and negative aspects of each partnership configuration will be examined, particularly in terms of how effective each is at delivering water to marginalized communities. My analysis treats water as a “public” or “social” good, something that is essential to human health and well-being. The rationale behind this study is to isolate what types of PuPs would be beneficial to citizens in the global South and ensure that water is treated as a public good.