Nice: building a public water company after 150 years of private management

When water remunicipalisation was announced in March 2013 in Nice, the fifth largest city in France, it came as a surprise considering the more conservative leanings of the city council. Executives from the private water provider Veolia spoke publicly of a “cold shower”. This article describes the growing collaboration and cooperation among public water operators in France, which allowed Nice to learn from previous experiences from Paris, Grenoble and Montpellier. The national network of public water operators France Eau Publique played a critical role in these exchanges.