This study is about the structural changes in the German water sector during the period from 1995 to 2005, especially with respect to turnover, employment, investment and ownership. In order to classify correctly the structural changes in the water sector it is to be differentiated between the municipal water supply on the one hand and the water industry on the other. The former, as for the municipal wastewater disposal, falls into the category of public services (even if they are performed by private parties). The term “water industry” is, on the other hand, more comprehensive, it includes for example the production of pipes, pumps and filters as well as measuring and control engineering equipment.
Literature analysis, evaluation of primary and secondary statistics, statistics of business federations, interviews with representatives of business associations and selected enterprises of the water sector.
Federal Statistical Office Germany, Federal Employment Agency, Business Federations and Associations, Business Reports.
The market size of the German water sector was around 12 billion € in the year 2003. Since 1995 moderate turnover growth took place with a simultaneous decrease of employment and a continuous investment activity in the water supply sector, but an investment decrease in the wastewater sector. Structural changes took place with respect to the organizational forms. Public utilities that were organized as municipal departments in former times were transferred into more independent organizations: Within the wastewater sector semi-autonomous municipal agencies and inter-municipal agencies dominate; in the water supply sector against it the municipal enterprise (in shape of the formal privatisation) and Public Private Partnership (PPP) models. Public property at the enterprises is however further prevailing. For the improvement of the efficiency and competitiveness of the German water sector the modernization strategy aimed at by the water industry seems to be promising. However, fiscal privileges for public wastewater companies as well as the recognizable tendency for the bulkheading of communal structures are counter productive. On the foreign markets for water services a stronger political support of the German water management would be desirable.
Matthias Egerer, Johann Wackerbauer (2006): Structural Changes in the German Water Sector, in behalf of Research Center Karlsruhe in the Helmholtz-Community.
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