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Bringing competition to urban water supply *
Author(s) -
Sibly Hugh,
Tooth Richard
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
australian journal of agricultural and resource economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.683
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1467-8489
pISSN - 1364-985X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8489.2007.00433.x
Subject(s) - business , competition (biology) , water supply , property rights , industrial organization , decoupling (probability) , stock (firearms) , natural resource economics , economics , microeconomics , environmental science , environmental engineering , mechanical engineering , ecology , control engineering , engineering , biology
This paper proposes a market‐based reform that would introduce competition into the provision of urban water. This proposal calls for a decoupling of infrastructure control and ownership of water whereby the property rights to water would be transferred to private hands. The proposal involves periodically allocation (e.g. by auction) of existing water stock held in urban catchments to virtual suppliers who then compete in providing bulk water. This change when coupled with effective third party access and retail competition would lead to a competitive market for the provision of urban water. The approach aims to address concerns over inefficient pricing and infrastructure provision under the current arrangement.