As China transitions to a market economy, municipal utilities are evolving into commercially viable companies under government oversight. Great challenges confront the reform process for China's water utilities, including rapid urbanization and emerging inequality, coupled with severe water...

In the 1990s, China's water supply infrastructure was in a very poor state. Municipal wastewater treatment was almost nonexistent. Public utilities were inefficient. Prices for water were unsustainably low. Since then, large investments have been made in water supply and wastewater...