When will they ever learn? The financial implications of water 'regionalisation' for non-metropolitan New South Wales local councils

Abstract

An inquiry into water and wastewater in NSW recommended the 'regionalisation' of water services away from local councils. However, these recommendations have yet to be implemented. This paper argues that any 'regionalisation' of water services will have disastrous results on the financial sustainability of local councils in non-metropolitan NSW. Since 'bigger is not better' in water services and the costs of 'regionalisation' are prohibitively high, the paper argues that the NSW state government should instead consider other methods of improving the efficiency of water and wastewater services.