Impetus for Water Privatization

Abstract

Dynamic population growth and scarcity of water resources, coupled with inertia in the conceptions and methods of water management, raise increasingly critical issues in the efficient allocation and distribution of water resources. During the 1980s the U.S. population rose by 23 percent in California (from 23.668 to 29.125 million), 25 percent in Texas (from 14.229 to 17.712 million), 31.5 percent in Florida (from 97.460 to 12.818 million), and 38 percent in Arizona (from 2.718 to 3.752 million). During the last two decades of the 20th century, population in these states was expected to increase by 41.5 percent, 42 percent, 58.2 percent, and 70 percent, respectively. With limitations in water supply threatening to impede long-term economic growth in these areas, and with the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of additional water supply projects decreasing, an urgent need has become apparent to develop new approaches and methods that can ensure better management and economical distribution of existing water supplies.