This paper reviews the theoretical andpolicy debates behind the global wave of infrastructure services privatization, focusing specifically on water and sanitation services. It explores two questions: first, what is the place ofsocial equity considerations in the rapid spread of privatization endeavors in water supply and sanitation services around the world? Second, why has the water services privatization movement been so much slower to catch on in the United States? Equity in water services is defined along three dimensions: physical access to safe drinking water, economic access or ajfordability, and access to planning and decision­ makingfor the services. Thepaper briefly reviews cases in France, Great Britain and Argentina, then examines the case of California in more depth, and shows how equity concerns are constructed difef rently in these various settings. After discussing the pricing and regulatory implications of privatization from an equity standpoint, the paper concludes with some directions for further research.

As we approach the beginning of a new millennium, planning for social equity remains an important and relevant subject of planning inquiry and practice. Amazing technological advances in the tools for communication, industrial production, data processing and research, combined with the rise of democratic governance processes, have transformed the ways in which society functions. Devastating wars, shifts in political and economic borders, population movements, and environmental disasters have contributed to changes in social and physical landscapes. To\f;:y we are faced with a process of uneven development and persistent concentrated pockets of poverty within dynamic and growing regions.