A new website – www.remunicipalisation.org – goes live today to highlight the growing trend to return failing privately managed water services to public management. Just this month, the Mayor of Paris announced that the city would be returning services to public management from 2009. France – arguably the heartland of privatised water services – is at the forefront of the remunicipalisation trend that is also manifesting itself in parts of South America, North America and Africa. Increased tariffs and a failure to deliver on promised improvements have left water multinationals facing increasing opposition from local communities and politicians. Some have taken steps to end contracts with private operators. Others are considering doing so. The remunicipalisation tracker (www.remunicipalisation.org) provides case studies from these communities – giving details of the problems faced and the victories won.
