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UK Water Commission Report: Where Regulation Went Awry

The United Kingdom’s privatized water industry is in a shambles. On the bright side, its government created a commission to sort out why. That Independent Water Commission led by Sir Jon Cunliffe completed its inquiry this summer, and this is the third of a series of articles diving into its 464-page report and dozens of […]

Municipal Retirees for Water Privatization in Chester, Pennsylvania

An organization representing some retired municipal employees filed suit against the state-appointed receiver for Chester, Pennsylvania over the city’s planned sale of the Chester Water Authority (CWA) earlier this summer. Their complaint isn’t what you’d expect. Rather than attempting to block a concession to a private partner, the retirees are trying to force one. The […]

UK Water Report: Did Investor Dividends Sully the Rivers?

The final report of the UK’s Independent Water Commission, led by Sir Jon Cunliffe, may not be in time to save Thames Water from a messy temporarily renationalization. The water company is going to decide in a month whether to appeal its current regulatory program to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), based on negotiations […]

UK Water: Cunliffe Report is In, and Ofwat is Out

The United Kingdom’s water industry is undergoing a tumultuous and critical reorganization, and it is far from over. The end results will reverberate well beyond the UK’s privatized water sector, and inform the broader debate over the role of the state and private sector in providing key public goods and services. Thames Water, the country’s […]

On the Brink: UK Water Commission Report in, and KKR Out at Thames Water

On June 3rd, the Cunliffe Commission in the United Kingdom published its widely anticipated interim findings on how to fix the nation’s beleaguered water industry. Almost as if on cue, that very same day KKR announced that it would be walking away from a planned rescue investment in Thames Water, the largest and most financially […]

Thames Water Looms Over UK Efforts to Promote Investment

In recent months, the Labour government in the United Kingdom has rolled out the red carpet for investment, taking steps to improve regulatory certainty and bring in private capital for new megaprojects. The government is right to worry about the UK’s ability to attract private investment, however. Overshadowing all of Labour’s efforts is the ongoing […]

Groundbreaking for Phase 2 of USACE Ship Channel P3 in Texas

Channel deepening or waterway dredging infrastructure projects make excellent candidates for the P3 procurement model, at least in theory. They are capital intensive during the deepening project but also require long-term maintenance. There is the potential for long-term risk transfer and clear performance-based specifications. The projects also entail significant maintenance risks due to variations in […]

Arizona Starts Massive Water Supply Project Procurement

The July/August edition of The Atlantic ran a cover story called “The Valley” which was reportedly the second-longest article in the magazine’s history. While the article was positioned as a dispatch to America “from the near future,” its true subject was Phoenix, Arizona. The city is framed as a microcosm for the sustainability of the […]

How Profits, Rather than Politics, Became the Consensus on Thames Water

The British people have a right to be angry at the state of their water industry. And they certainly are. The industry featured heavily among voters in the UK’s recent election campaign, which resulted in a sweeping victory for the Labour Party. Things have only gotten worse for the industry, and Thames Water in particular, […]

Who’s Muddying Thames Water?

We Yanks are loathe to weigh in on the affairs of the British, and this is especially true with regards to infrastructure policy. His Majesty’s infrastructure agencies have long been considered the gold standard, and London a respected global center for infrastructure finance. The debacle presently unfolding at Thames Water, and the privatized UK water […]