Global Water Intelligence The Portuguese parliament is due to approve legislation this month reinforcing the powers and independence of the Portuguese water and waste regulator ERSAR. The new law, once approved, will end ERSAR’s anomalous status as both government agency and regulator of government-owned assets. It will give it powers to raise revenue, set water tariffs, impose fines and regulate relationships between water operators. The regulatory reform foreshadows the eventual privatisation of the state-owned bulk and retail water operator Aguas de Portugal (AdP). In a parliamentary submission, the national association of Portuguese municipalities (ANMP) criticised the proposed tariff-setting powers of ERSAR “as an unlawful interference with the autonomy of municipalities and an affront to constitutional principles of local government”. Meanwhile, the Portuguese private water operators’ association AEPSA welcomed the new legislation as “giving credibility to the sector” and treating “all entities – public or private – as equals, instead of regulating only the private sector.”