the no campaign argued that private participation in the water sector was necessary to drive efficiency and provide muchneeded investment by restricting the return on capital the referendum limits opportunities for water utilities public and private to raise capital for investment in capital markets the plans of a number of privately operated utilities to upgrade parts of italy s water network have been shelved some public utilities may be able to resort in the short term to taxation to repay loans but this option is not available to private operators including utilities jointly operated by the public and private sector