The Study Of Reform Of Regulation In City Water Supply Industry

Water supply industry serves to be one fundamental industry on which a city's economic development relies. It includes a serial of business activities, such as, water-fetching, water-making, water-transporting, water-distributing and sewage-processing. Due to its nature of resource scarcity, natural monopoly and public welfare, water supply industry is usually subject to regulations by governments. During a long period of time in planned economy, water supply industry has been regarded as a public good or welfare cause in China and therefore has been invested, monopolized by the means of regulation on low price and high fiscal subsidy. However, with the economic system transformation from central-planned economy to market-oriented economy and the development of city agglomeration economy, followed by fiscal burden and lack of supply, regulation reform on water supply sector has become imperative under the situation.Based on an overview of regulation theory, this paper addresses some characteristics inherent in water supply industry, its regulation demand and the problems that China is facing at present in the process of regulation reforms. Meanwhile, this paper aims to put forward some regulation reform implications built upon the lessons and experiences of some western countries countered before.The paper consists of six parts altogether. Chapter One mainly deals with the research objective and its significance, that is to say, the necessity and importance of regulation reforms on water supply industry in China during the very period of economic shift. Chapter Two offers an overview of various regulation theories both at abroad and at home. Chapter Three focuses attention on the characteristics of water supply industry and its regulation demand from five perspectives of market structure, market entry, price, quality and environment. Chapter Four puts emphasis on a case study in regulation on water supply sector in England in accordance with the above five respects. Chapter Five elaborates in detail Chinese city water supply situation and the problems it is confronted with. And the last chapter draws some conclusions and offers some policy implications in the terms of standardizing regulation measures by governments, detaching firms from local authorities, re-organizing market structure, properly setting down regulation price and diversifying investment entities respectively.