Privatization of Wastewater Treatment Plants: Lessons from Changing Corporate Strategies

Abstract

Burgeoning budgetary pressures have created considerable interest for the privatization of public services. Privatization is usually justified in terms of the cost effectiveness that laissez-faire economics impose on the private sector. Yet, this model has come under challenge in the corporate world because businesses often must pursue other goals than just cost minimization, such as product quality, flexibility of production, and long-term alliances with other corporations, including ostensible competitors. A similar situation exists concerning the privatization of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) during the 1980s. Rather than adhering to the laissez-faire model, WWTP privatization was much more concerned with quality, flexibility, and “public-private partnerships,” suggesting that a broader and more sophisticated view of privatization is needed.

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