Civil society groups are pressuring the World Bank to disinvest from private water companies, saying that privatising ownership and management...has failed to improve access to clean drinking water. The World Bank is subsidising private profiteering from an essential resource by lending public money to private corporations that...have failed to improve services, says Corporate Accountability International... CAI...[said] private corporations...have failed to expand water supplies to benefit the...poorest... IFC officials concede that not all contracts with private companies for water utilities have proven successful... But...research into public-private partnerships for urban water utilities reached more nuanced conclusions..., IFC water specialist Patrick Mullen said in an interview...Its research found that private operators have improved...operational efficiency...and the quality of service, though there were no clear-cut benefits on tariffs or access... [refers to Manila Water (joint venture Ayala, Mitsubishi Corp. & United Utilities)]