Water and sewage systems are provided by private or mixed operators in a few western European countries, but only in the UK and France are a majority of the population provided for by private operators, as shown in the table.

There are important differences between the two countries:

• In the UK the main water companies were privatised in a single political act in 1989. In France, privatisation has developed over the course of a century, although it has grown most rapidly in the last fifteen years.
• In France, as in virtually all other west European countries, municipalities are responsible for water supply; whereas in the UK it is a statutory responsibility of the companies imposed by the state;
• Water in France has been privatised by municipalities awarding concessions or contracts to private companies ("gestion deleguee"), whereas in the UK the water companies hold state-allocated regional concessions;
• Nearly all privatised water in France is in the hands of three major groups, which operate throughout the country via a number of local subsidiaries; in the UK, each company operates only in its own region.

About one-third of Spain is covered by privatised water concessions. Most of these are held by companies which are partly or wholly owned by the French water groups. As in France, some of these concessions date back to the turn of the century, eg in Barcelona and Valencia, but there has been a recent growth in privatisation by the local authorities responsible.

A small number of Italians are covered by privatised water concessions – again, these are mainly held by companies partly or wholly owned by the French groups. Privatisation has not however grown significantly in Italy in the last 5 years, despite expectations that new legislation would encourage this.

Elsewhere in the EU privatised water (or sewerage) is exceptional. The figures in the table for Germany are slightly misleading: the percentages in the ‘private’ column refer almost exclusively to provision by companies which are, in effect, controlled by municipalities.