Public–Private Partnerships in the Water Sector: The Case of Desalination

Robert A. Greer (), Kyungsun Lee (), Amanda Fencl () and Gretchen Sneegas ()
Additional contact information
Robert A. Greer: Texas A&M University
Kyungsun Lee: Texas A&M University
Amanda Fencl: Texas A&M University
Gretchen Sneegas: Texas A&M University

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2021, vol. 35, issue 11, No 4, 3497-3511

Abstract: Abstract Public–private partnerships (PPPs) have grown in popularity as a method to leverage private sector actors in the production of government services. With the global challenge of water insecurity, PPPs are becoming more common for large scale water infrastructure projects. One prominent example is the water desalination industry. Global desalination capacity has grown in recent decades driven by demand for alternative water sources. However, desalination facilities remain complex and expensive operations. In this paper, we examine the role of private actors working in partnership with public entities in the delivery of drinking water using the case of desalination. We examine global trends in PPPs and discuss implications for the desalination industry as well as water infrastructure more broadly. Additionally, detailed data on desalination facilities were collected in Israel, Australia, and the United States including key stakeholder interviews. Results demonstrate an increase in PPP use in the water sector over time along with significant regional variation. We also find that the public sector partners often rely on private sector partners in the design, build, and operation stages of the project regardless of the amount of public financing.

Keywords: Public–private partnership; Desalination; Infrastructure; Finance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11269-021-02900-9 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:waterr:v:35:y:2021:i:11:d:10.1007_s11269-021-02900-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11269

DOI: 10.1007/s11269-021-02900-9

Access Statistics for this article

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) is currently edited by G. Tsakiris

More articles in Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) from Springer, European Water Resources Association (EWRA)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().