This book goes beyond the ideology of the public versus private water regime debate, by focusing on the results of these types of initiatives to provide better water services, particularly in urban settings.

Introduction: What do the Protagonists of the Water Sector Do? Dominique Lorrain and Franck Poupeau Part 1: Unorthodox Models and Practices 1. "The Embedded Actor": A Water Joint-venture in Chongqing Dominique Lorrain 2. "Delivering More than Water". The Salt River Project: the Invention of an Adaptive Partnership for Water Management Murielle Coeurdray, Franck Poupeau, Brian O'Neill and Joan Cortinas Part 2: Questions of Legitimacy: Private Interventions in a Public Service 3. Legitimacy in the Test of Time: Operating Water in Buenos Aires Bernard de Gouvello 4. Water in Paris: Polity and Politics Dominique Lorrain 5. The Partial Privatization of the Berlin Water Company Thomas Blanchet 6. Corporate Social Responsibility and Public Service Management in Nagpur Marie-Hélène Zérah and Cécile Renouard Part 3: When Small Water Systems meet the Large Technical System 7. A Local Public Service: the Action of Small-scale Private Water Providers to Supply Peripheral Neighbourhoods in Three African Cities Sarah Botton and Aymeric Blanc 8. Cooperatives in La Paz and El Alto: A Complementary System Sébastien Hardy and Franck Poupeau 9. The Decentralization of Supply in Four Uttar Pradesh Municipalities Rémi de Bercegol and Shankare Gowda 10. Water Disputes in Soweto. Inequalities, Social Mobilisations and Recourse to the Law Julie Aubriot Part 4: Conclusion 11. Lessons drawn from the Practices of Operators Dominique Lorrain and Franck Poupeau

Dominique Lorrain is Director of Research (emeritus) at CNRS, Latts, Ecole des Ponts ParisTech, Paris, France.

Franck Poupeau is a Director of Research at CNRS and Director of the International Joint Center iGLOBES, based at the University of Arizona, USA.