It’s time to put our water back into public hands
Blue-green algae bloom in Lake Windermere as a result of sewage discharges | Image by: Ashley Cooper pics / Alamy Stock Photo
3 min read
It is billpayers who have financed all of the capital expenditure since privatisation
The state of our rivers is nothing short of a national scandal. Raw sewage flows freely into our waterways, while privatised water companies pay out bonuses and dividends to their shareholders despite decades of failure. Our water system was never designed to cope with climate change, to ensure clean rivers, or to reduce our environmental impact, and a bold reimagining of the water industry is needed if we are to deliver the infrastructure to keep the taps running, the rivers clean, and flood risk low.
The case for bringing water companies back into public ownership has never been stronger. Water bills are set to skyrocket while some water companies are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, and the whole system extracts huge profits for shareholders while ordinary people go without essentials in order to afford the bills. And despite the shocking failures of the water industry, with sewage choking our rivers, executives are handed eye-watering bonuses.
The promise of privatisation in the 1980s was that the profit motive would incentivise the private sector to deliver the investment that our aging water infrastructure needed. Not only has that investment failed to materialise, but the water companies have paid out more to shareholders than shareholders ever actually invested in the first place. The reality is that it is billpayers who have financed all of the capital expenditure since privatisation. Payouts to shareholders have been paid for by constantly increasing levels of debt – and the interest on that is passed on to consumers, as additional costs on their bills.
Just think how that money could be spent if it wasn’t servicing water companies’ debt, or lining the pockets of shareholders – if, instead, we brought water back into public hands. The money we pay for our bills could instead be reinvested into bringing our creaking water infrastructure up to scratch, used to clean up our rivers and seas, and spent on futureproofing our water systems so that we can be resilient in the face of challenges like flooding and drought.
Just think how that money could be spent if it wasn’t servicing water companies’ debt, or lining the pockets of shareholders
In Waveney Valley, the constituency I represent, the dangers of a poorly managed water system are all too real – our communities have suffered from devastating floods, and there are currently no sufficient plans in place to prevent flooding, leaving residents fearful that their lives could at any moment be turned upside down or put at risk by a deluge.
It’s not enough to fix our current systems for providing and disposing of water – we need to make the way we use water much more sustainable, reducing waste and easing the burden on our sewage systems. By focusing on demand reduction, nature-based solutions, and integrated management, we can actually reduce the need for expensive infrastructure projects and protect our communities from the dangers of flooding and storm overflows.
The crisis in our rivers is a wake-up call. It’s time to reclaim our water services, putting them back in public hands and aligning them with the urgent need to protect our environment. With these systemic reforms, we can clean up our rivers, safeguard public health, and create a sustainable water system for generations to come – all while reducing the cost to billpayers.
Adrian Ramsay is co-leader of the Green Party and MP for Waveney Valley
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