The potential benefits of private sector involvement in urban and rural water and wastewater services include:
• additional sources for funding maintenance of existing infrastructure
• investment in the renewal and replacement of water and wastewater assets
• creating competition, improved services and competitive pricing regimes
• greater efficiencies in water delivery - particularly through new technologies
• improved management and working practices
• the attraction of new investment in water saving processes, and
• improved security for water users.
There is also potential benefit in new entrants investing in efficient technologies to be used on-site in new areas of industrial or urban development. The involvement of the private sector may assist in reducing the demand for water and services in new developments and the need to access infrastructure which may be managed by a supplier located some distance away. From a rural perspective the advent of water trading may also provide opportunities for private interests to invest in measures and/or infrastructure to improve the efficiency of irrigation supply systems and trade the water saved as an efficiency dividend.