Water and Wastewater

Water and wastewater management, traditionally the province of state and local government, represents another fast-growing area for PPPs. Many countries have started to use PPP structures to privately finance needed investment in these sectors.

The total value of water and wastewater PPP projects in the Australian states of Victoria and New South Wales is approximately $131.5 million.47 With aging water and wastewater systems demanding more than $28 billion for renewal, many Canadian municipal governments have also begun to consider alternative financing mechanisms to deliver water service.48 In the 1990s, a few pioneering municipalities such as Moncton, Hamilton, and Dartmouth initiated Canadian PPP projects.49 Meanwhile, in Ireland, more than 100 water and wastewater PPP projects (most of them design-build projects) are either operational or in construction and planning.

The largest European water PPP is in the Netherlands, where the Water Board of Delft land awarded a 30-year concession, with a total contract value of €1.58 billion. The project includes the design, construction, and operation of a new wastewater treatment plan and, to comply with more stringent discharge requirements, the refurbishment and operation of an existing wastewater treatment plant.