工业化国家的供水服务和公用事业最近已经从以供应为导向转变为以需求和客户为导向。一项针对四家芬兰公用事业公司的研究表明，客户对其服务和公用事业的期望比他们目前收到的更多。然而，在芬兰，很少有客户参与公用事业运营和决策。尽管一些水务公司已经相当以客户为导向，但它们仍远未实现真正的客户响应，即客户被视为完全的利益相关者。如果在世界范围内大力推广水务设施的私有制和运营，客户的利益可能很容易被遗忘。此外，由安全问题和基础设施漏洞问题引起的公用事业运营变化可能会迫使公用事业经理重新考虑客户参与和开放公共信息战略。 未来，水服务的提供将更多地基于所有相关利益相关者的道德、价值观、权利、责任和期望。

Water services and utilities in industrialized countries have recently changed from being supply-oriented to being demand- and customer-oriented. A study of four Finnish utilities showed that customers expect more information about their services and utilities than they are currently receiving. Yet in Finland few customers are involved in utility operations and decision-making. Although some water utilities are already fairly customer-oriented, they are still far from true customer-responsiveness, in which customers are recognized as full stakeholders. Should private ownership and operation of water utilities be strongly promoted worldwide, customers' interests may easily be forgotten. Also, changes in utility operations brought about by security concerns and infrastructure vulnerability issues may force utility managers to re-think customer involvement and open public information strategies. In the future, the provision of water services will be based more on the ethics, values, rights, responsibilities, and expectations of all relevant stakeholders.