Assessing Cost Recovery: A New Comparative Framework in Line with Wfd Article 9

This study proposes a comparative accounting framework for assessing cost recovery of water supply and sewerage services for households and agriculture in line with the requirements of Article 9 of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). It provides an integrative analysis of the partly contradictory objectives of Article 9 and the Directive's approach to cost recovery. The book defines cost categories and accounting guidelines in line with the specific requirements of WFD Article 9. On this basis, an integrative framework for analysing different financing schemes for water services provision and their compliance with the objectives of Article 9 is developed, along with a pragmatic approach for the incorporation of environmental and resource costs in the overall cost recovery analysis.

Britta Ammermüller (née Pielen) completed a master’s degree in International Economic Studies at Maastricht University. She joined the Ecologic Institute at Berlin in 2002. Her work focused on the role of economic instruments in water resources management and the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive. From 2004 to 2008 she taught and worked as a scientific researcher at the Institute of Infrastructure and Resources Management at Leipzig University. In 2008, she joined the German Association of Local Utilities (VKU) at Berlin as a policy officer in the department Water/Wastewater.