The Spanish Water Act, 2001 shifted responsibility for wastewater treatment from municipal to regional government, and as a consequence the Autonomous Communities have begun to levy a Sanitation Charge, apparently with environmental objectives. Industrial demand for water in Aragon is estimated...

The aim of this paper is to explain the regulatory activity of the Autonomous Communities (Spanish regional governments) between 1989 and 2001, employing the methodological framework provided by the economic theory of regulation. To this end, a ‘model of regulatory demand’ and a ‘model of...