Despite remarkable improvement in water supply and sanitation services, Estonia faces finance and investment challenges to keep up with social expectations and environmental health regulations. With downward demographic trends expected to affect water utilities revenues and the projected phasing out of EU water funding, which was essential in the rapid improvement of service provision over the last two decades, substantial efficiency gains are required to transition towards sustainable water service provision.

Towards Sustainable Water Services in Estonia presents a strategy and action plan to promote efficiency gains for water supply and sanitation services in Estonia, focusing on the consolidation of service provision. The report provides consolidation scenarios and accompanying measures, including depreciation methods for granted assets, and benchmarking methods going beyond cost comparisons to performance levels and the ambition of development plans. It also shares insights for countries facing similar challenges or seeking to improve the efficiency of water service provision.

The project was undertaken in collaboration with – and with the financial support of the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support of the European Commission.