High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Water privatization in Albania was initiated by the Albanian government in the early 2000s with the support of the World Bank and German development cooperation. The stated objective was to improve the quality and efficiency of urban water supply and sanitation. At the time, many households received water only for a few hours every day, utilities were overstaffed, water tariffs were low and many customers did not pay their water bills. There was no single municipal wastewater treatment plant in the country of 3 million, which is among Europe`s poorest countries. In 2002-03 three contracts were signed with foreign private operators covering six secondary cities. Water privatization never covered more than a fifth of the country’s population. The contracts ended or were terminated early five years later with few tangible improvements in service quality.