Regionalization and water governance: a case study of a Swiss wastewater utility

The aim of this paper is to evaluate how regionalization trends might affect the performance of water governance in terms of three overarching performance criteria: legitimacy, efficiency and effectiveness. The empirical component of this paper draws from a case-study analysis of the wastewater utility in Zurich, Switzerland. The findings indicate that establishing competencies through the process of autonomization can lead to an increase in a utility's organizational efficiency and effectiveness; yet there is a notable trade-off with legitimacy because such processes tend to decrease direct democratic influence.