Public water supply, urban wastewater management and municipal waste management are public services essential to the well-being, public health and collective security of the populations and economic activities, as well as to environment protection. These services must respect the principles of universal access, uninterrupted and high quality of service and efficient and affordable prices.
As established in Law no. 10/2014, from 6th of March, ERSAR is the regulator of the water and waste services and the competent authority for drinking water quality. ERSAR's activity aims to ensure the guarantee and control of the quality of the services provided as well as the supervision of the prices, promoting the physical and economic accessibility of the services. It also aims to stimulate an effective public right to information on the sectors and on each of the operators.
In pursuit of its mission, ERSAR's conduct is governed by the principles of independence, impartiality and transparency:
Independence
ERSAR is an independent regulatory body in terms of its organization, functions and financing. It is not subject to government supervision.
Impartiality
In the performance of its functions, ERSAR treats all parties with absolute impartiality.
Transparency
ERSAR discloses a significant amount of information regarding its activity and the sectors it regulates, regularly reporting to the Government and the Parliament. Furthermore, ERSAR’s decisions are scrutinized by the courts.