https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1387-7237
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ABSTRACT
Public banks in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark have played a critical role in financing the costs of public water services in the Nordic region for over a century. A pooled banking model, collectively owned and operated by municipal and/or national governments, has allowed public water operators to obtain financing at the lowest possible rates, improving services and protecting their public status. It is not without its challenges, including threats of privatization and commercialization of public water operators and public banks, but this Nordic model has much to offer global debates about public financing of public water services.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. We define public banks here as banking institutions that are majority owned and controlled by the state or some other public entity, governed under public law or by public authorities, or which function according to a public mandate, which can operate at a municipal, national and international level, and can have a variety of different mandates (Marois, Citation2021).
2. A handful of WSS contracts with private firms exist in Finland, but these are ‘mainly in industrial wastewater treatment’ and are co-owned by municipalities (Katko, Citation2016, p. 210). Many private sector firms are also involved in consulting, construction and the provision of materials to the water sector.
3. On the effect of tap water on stomach illness in Norway, see https://www.fhi.no/studier/drikkevannsstudien/datainnsamlingen-er-na-avsluttet/.
4. See www.eapb.eu/.
6 For example, see www.siwi.org/what-we-do/business/.