Water Regulation: Separate Regulatory Body with Licensing Regime

Under this model, an agency separate from the water service providers issues licenses to them and sets the terms of supply. Traditionally used to regulate private providers (such as in England and Wales and the United States), it features increasingly in the regulation of public service providers (such as some states in Australia and the United States). Regulatory agencies may be at national or regional levels (as in England and in the United States and Australia, respectively) or they may be local.