Economic regulation of water supply and sanitation services: Key trends and approaches

Sophie Tremolet and Laura Madeleine Smith

No 275, OECD Environment Working Papers from OECD Publishing

Abstract: Many countries face the need to reform the regulatory frameworks governing their water and sanitation services to expand access, reduce inequalities and tackle environmental challenges. This working paper examines trends in the economic regulation of water and sanitation services, drawing on lessons learned from a range of institutional models, including regulation by contract, regulation by agency and self-regulation. It highlights policy and regulatory instruments aimed at reducing social and territorial inequalities in access to water and sanitation services. It also explores how economic regulatory frameworks can evolve to better account for growing environmental pressures. Finally, the paper identifies the need for further research and analysis, including the development of a statistically robust survey to benchmark the performance of different regulatory models and inform institutional and regulatory reforms.

Keywords: economic regulation; environmental protection; institutional regulatory models; sanitation; social inequalities; territorial inequalities; water supply (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 H23 H53 H54 L51 L95 L98 Q53 Q58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-05-26
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oec:envaaa:275-en

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