Drinking water company usually covers a part or whole water cycle of a city. In the case of Vienna, Wiener Wasser covers the whole water cycle with 100% spring water from the Lower Austrian-Styrian Alps. Wiener Wasser is a part of the municipal department in Vienna responsible for clean water supply, maintain and control the quality of the water and pipelines, manage public sewage systems, wastewater treatment, and education around drinking water.
Another public drinking company owned by the municipality such as Waternet in Amsterdam also covers similar responsibility to supply clean water and collection of wastewaters. While in another Dutch regions such as Delft, have Evides Waterbedrijf to manage their drinking water supply and Delfluent to manage sewers and wastewater treatment.
In London, a similar service is provided by a private drinking company called Thames Water. Thames Water is responsible for the public water supply and wastewater treatment in most of Greater London. The company has been through several takeovers by companies such as RWE (German utility company) and Kemble Water Holdings Ltd (Consortium).
Another type of drinking water service could be provided by the partnership between the public and private companies. For instance, Jakarta drinking water is being distributed by private companies in form of a 25-year concession agreement, in which both private companies (Palyja and Aetra) have to achieve universal service coverage and a reduction of water losses to 20 percent at the end of the concession period. (initially 46% and 61% respectively in 1998). Also, the municipality or government normally will have to buy all the shares from private companies at the end of the concession period.
In 2019, the Austrian Parliament passed a law enshrining the protection of drinking water resources in the Austrian constitution. Water privatization in Austria is thus henceforth unconstitutional.
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Cycle of water diagram ; various logo of water company
Sources: Waternet. “Who We Are.” Wereld Waternet. Accessed May 2, 2021. https://www.wereldwaternet.nl/en/about-world-waternet/whoweare/.
- “Water Privatization.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, March 12, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_privatization.
- “Wiener Wasser.” zur Startseite der Stadt Wien, March 16, 2021. https://www.wien.gv.at/wienwasser/.
- Waternet. “Our Service Area.” Waternet. Accessed May 2, 2021. https://www.waternet.nl/en/about-us/our-service-area/.
- “Water Privatisation in Jakarta.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, March 14, 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_privatisation_in_Jakarta.
