Delegation Of Water Services In France Since The 19th Century: A Lack Of Public Expertise?

C. Pezon (1)

1 LIRSA - Laboratoire interdisciplinaire de recherche en sciences de l'action

In France, for nearly 150 years, the provision of water fell under the responsibility of 36,000 municipalities, which could organize water services at their own scale or within the framework of a variety of municipal associations. Municipalities also decided how to manage their services: either publicly (in-house organisation) or privately through a delegation contract. At the end of the 20 th century, water services were mostly organized within the framework of municipal associations and privately managed by three operators. In 2015, the NOTRe law transferred jurisdiction over water services from 36,600 municipalities to 2,000 urban and rural communities. This reform is the culmination of a public policy, which aims to rebalance the management models in favour of public management. This paper explores the role of public expertise in the rise and relative decline of PPP for the provision of drinking water from the middle of the 19 th century.

Domains: Environmental and Society; Business administration; Political science; History; Economics and Finance; Law

C. Pezon. Delegation Of Water Services In France Since The 19th Century: A Lack Of Public Expertise?. Second World Congress on Business History - “Business History in a Changing World”, Sep 2021, online, Japan. ⟨hal-03350687⟩