英格兰和威尔士的水工业于1989年11月私有化。在此之前，该行业在1974年被彻底重组，当时中央政府解除了地方市政当局提供饮用水和卫生设施的责任。取代各自为政的市政当局，建立了覆盖英格兰和威尔士的十个区域水资源管理局，并划定了与主要河流集水区的边界相匹配的边界。因此，当局首次成立，负责提供饮用水和污水处理对下游社区的影响。由于1989年的私有化，水务部门的职责得到了修订，并成立了监管机构来监督和控制新水务公司的活动。成立了三个独立的监管机构: 水服务办公室，负责行业的经济监管，包括比较绩效评估和客户服务水平定义；饮用水检查局，负责执行饮用水质量法规，并监督水务公司在向客户提供饮用水服务方面的质量表现；环境署（最初是国家河流管理局）负责颁发取水许可证，为污水处理厂和下水道溢流排放设定许可证，并对环境绩效进行全面监测。苏格兰水务行业在1974年的重组和1989年的私有化中都被排除在外。这是出于政治原因，但专业水资源管理机构的存在带来的好处导致了重新评估- 20世纪90年代末苏格兰工业的组织。独立监管机构的好处也是显而易见的，因此，独立监管机构被任命负责饮用水、环境保护和经济监管。包括表格、附录。

The water industry of England and Wales was privatized in November 1989. Before that, the industry had been radically re-organized in 1974 when local municipalities had been relieved of the responsibility for provision of potable water and sanitation by the central government. In place of the fragmented municipal authorities, ten regional water authorities were established covering England and Wales with boundaries drawn to match the boundaries of the catchment areas of major rivers. Thus for the first time, authorities were established who were responsible for both the provision of potable water and the consequences of sewage treatment on downstream communities. As a result of the privatization in 1989, the responsibilities of water authorities were revised, and regulatory bodies were established to monitor and control the activities of the new water companies. Three separate regulatory bodies were established: the Office of Water Services, responsible for the economic regulation of the industry, including comparative performance assessment and definition of customer service levels; the Drinking Water Inspectorate, responsible for enforcing drinking water quality legislation and monitoring the quality performance of the water companies in respect of provision of drinking water services to their customers; the Environment Agency (initially the National Rivers Authority) responsible for granting of licences for water abstraction, setting of consents (permits) for discharges from sewage works and sewer overflows, and overall monitoring of environmental performance. The Scottish Water Industry was excluded from both the 1974 re-organization and the 1989 privatization. This was for political reasons, but the benefits arising from the existence of specialist water authorities led to a re-organization of the Scottish Industry in the late 1990s. The benefit of having separate regulators was also apparent and therefore, independent regulators were appointed to cover drinking water, environmental protection, and economic regulation. Includes tables, appendices.