The water industry includes water engineering, operations, water and wastewater plant construction, equipment supply and specialist water treatment chemicals, among others.
The water industry is at the service of other industries, e.g. of the food sector which produces beverages such as bottled water.
Organizational structure
There are a variety of organizational structures for the water industry, with countries usually having one dominant traditional structure, which usually changes only gradually over time.
BOTs - private sector building parts of a water system (such as a wastewater treatment plant) and operating it for an agreed period before transferring to public sector ownership and operation.
cooperation and NGO operators
Functions
Integrated water system (water supply, sewerage (sanitation) system, and wastewater treatment)
Separation by function (e.g. Dutch system where sewerage run by city, water supply by municipal or provincial companies, and water treatment by water boards), though some Water Supply Companies have merged beyond municipal or provincial borders.
Other separation (e.g. Munich, separated into three companies for bulk water supply, water and wastewater network operations, and retail)
Standards
Water quality standards and environmental standards relating to wastewater are usually set by national bodies.
For countries within the European Union, water-related European Union directives are important for water resource management and environmental and water quality standards. Key directives include the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive 1992 requiring most towns and cities to treat their wastewater to specified standards, and the Water Framework Directive 2000, which requires water resource plans based on river basins, including public participation based on Aarhus Convention principles.[3]
International Standards (ISO) on water service management and assessment are under preparation within Technical Committee ISO/TC 224.
^United States. Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972. Pub. L.92–500 Approved 1972-10-18.
^"Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 2005-04-08. Retrieved 2004-12-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Watertime - the international context. Section 2