Up until the 1990s, water and sewerage services in most countries were a state/public responsibility. It was only in the 1990s that multinational led water privatization increased along with infrastructure privatization in general in the developing world.

Opening up the sector to multinational water companies or their subsidiaries are enforced through various measures. These pressures came from international financial institutions where AID and loan availability is (both directly and indirectly) tied to liberalization. Now these institutions are trying to shape the United Nations agenda, and take over the process.