| Abstract: | While water has always been important to people, recent pressures of population, ecology, geography and economic development have created new demands for water and call into question the old institutional arrangements for the administration of water resources. Drawing upon experience, largely from Spain and Latin America but including some examples from Europe, this paper examines the role that private enterprise and water cooperatives could play in promoting more efficient water use. The paper concludes that private management techniques under public control may prove useful but are no panacea. |
