The UK has spent millions of pounds of aid money on:

    * Consultants that have an ideological bias towards pushing privatisation
    * Public relations exercises to try to convince communities that privatisation is in their best interests
    * Directly funding privatisation by subsidising private water companies in developing countries.
    * Conditions of aid by supporting World Bank and IMF loans and debt relief conditional on privatisation.
    * Promoting privatisation internationally by supporting international initiatives to promote private sector involvement in projects, including water. Read more about the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF)

Public sector reform
With over 90 per cent of piped water already in public hands, the private sector is not in a position to make a major contribution to solving the global water crisis. The absolute priority for political and financial support has to be improving existing public water services. There are weak public water utilities, but there is also a growing number of strong, successful public water companies. Public providers in Brazil, Cambodia, India, and Uganda are successfully providing clean affordable water, reinvesting profits and involving local communities. In each country, city or region the appropriate model will differ, but they all share the common principles of efficiency, accountability and transparency. Public utilities around the world need the UK government’s political and financial backing.