Open AccessGroundwater protection in Denmark and the role of water supply companies
Author(s) -
Jacob Dyrby Petersen,
Lisbeth Flindt Jørgensen
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
geological survey of denmark and greenland bulletin
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.652
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1904-4666
pISSN - 1604-8156
DOI - 10.34194/geusb.v26.4749
Subject(s) - water supply , business , water industry , statutory law , water framework directive , profit (economics) , groundwater , industrial organization , order (exchange) , environmental economics , economics , finance , water quality , law , microeconomics , environmental science , environmental engineering , engineering , ecology , geotechnical engineering , political science , biology
Denmark has a decentralised water supply structure with about 2500 water supply companies. Until recently, about 150 of these, especially the larger ones, were owned by local authorities; the rest are private, all run on an independent and not-for-profit basis. Recently, a new law, the Water Sector Law (Miljøministeriet 2009), was implemented. Its purpose is to privatise the water supply sector (although, as hitherto, into not-for-profit corporations), and statutory duties are separated from operations in order to make the supply of drinking water to consumers as efficient as possible. An important element of the Water Sector Law is the introduction of a new regulatory body, the Utility Secretariat. The role of this new institution under the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority is to enforce price ceilings on drinking water, based on a selection of benchmark parameters.