The LIS-Water’s Day, held on the 24th of May 2023, promoted a debate session with the participation of national and international experts from the water services sector. The valuable discussion addressed the challenges for regulation that promotes the effectiveness and efficiency of public policies, with the adequate performance of management entities to promote the quality of services in a sustainable way for users.

Reflections by João Belo, Director of the Água & Ambiente newspaper, João Simão Pires, Executive Director of the Portuguese Partnership for Water, Rui Cunha Marques, Full Professor at Instituto Superior Técnico and Consultant at RPG Consult, and Diogo Faria de Oliveira, Founder and Director Executive of Defining Future Options, as well as regulators from Latin America and the Caribbean and other participants of the event, allowed to synthesize ten challenges for the regulation of the water sector:

1. Promote a clear alignment between public policy and service regulation, in order to create an environment conducive to better service delivery.
2. Regularly measure the impact of regulation and demonstrate its positive role for society.
3. Promoting more inclusive regulation, gradually covering the entire population, including those not supplied by public networks, and adjusting the regulatory model to the different types of service provision.
4. Create effective regulatory instruments to manage consequences when service providers do not continually comply with defined rules or targets.
5. Establish in contracts and management plans quantitative targets for the rehabilitation of infrastructures with associated sanctions, to face the frequent postponement of these investments.
6. Follow up on the execution of planned investments and do not let unrealized investments lead to tariffs.
7. Incorporate new mechanisms for regulating exposure (sunshine regulation), such as rankings, to encourage improved performance by fund managers and focus on technical assistance and financial incentives.
8. Improve knowledge about seasonal variations in consumption for a better regulatory response to the challenges of climate change.
9. Use, when justified, seasonal tariffs considering the summer and winter periods, combating water waste and promoting greater fairness in the distribution of costs.
10. Promote the value of water and a culture of its rational use, with the involvement of all stakeholders.

It is moments like these that, in light of the discussion on topics relevant to the water services sector, demonstrate that it is possible to tread a path so that services are sustainable and economically accessible, generating value for society as a whole. The joint efforts of governments, regulators, management entities and all other actors is essential for the vision proposed in the Strategic Plan for the Water Supply and Wastewater and Rainwater Management Sector (PENSAARP) 2030 to become a reality: “ achieve excellent water services for all and with certain accounts”.