Should England’s water be publicly-owned?
Whether to bring the water boards back under public ownership is a subject much in the news of late. There have been huge issues with Thames Water not providing the standard needed, and many say that making water companies private has been a disaster.
Who is right, and what are the options going forward?
90% of the water on earth is publicly owned. But in England, Margaret Thatcher’s government privatised water in England in 1989 (it remains public in Scotland where bills are over £100 cheaper). And in Wales, the non-profit water board is also public.
Today regional companies own and operate the drinking water and pipes, reservoirs, wastewater treatment and sewage. And unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know there are campaigns for better sewage treatment, with huge issues (having killed lots of wildlife).
While shareholders are given huge profits, instead of those funds being used to update outdated sewage systems.
As each area only has one private water board, customers can’t choose their supplier, so they are under the control of a monotony. Ofwat controls prices and the Drinking Water inspectorate monitors drinking water quality. The Environment Agency oversees environmental issues.
People who support private ownership of water (including the Conservative party – Reform wants a blend) say that private investment helps to modernise infrastructure. Our population explosion means our sewers are hopelessly outdated. And it can raise money on the stock market for better standards.
Critics say private companies pay out dividends rather than investing in water. And the recent sewage pollution and leaks show that profits is being put above basic water needs.
It’s interesting to compare England with Wales, which runs a non-profit model. It’s still owned by a company, but has no shareholders so reinvests any surplus money into the water system.
Since the water boards were made private over 32 years ago, Thames Water alone has handed out £7.2 billion pounds to shareholders, yet still London has failing pipes, sewage discharges and degraded waterways.
That amount could replace thousands of kilometres of ageing water mains across Thames Water’s 30,000km of pipes, and fund pressure management systems, smart meters and leak detection technology.
The proposed Thames Tideway Tunnel (a ‘super sewer’ to reduce overflows) could cost £4.5 billion. Still less than collective shareholder dividends over the past years.
Surfers Against Sewage is also a fan of bringing water companies back into public ownership, saying that ‘people should come before payouts’.
A third of all water bills now in England are spent on paying out dividends to shareholders or debt. Bills rise and are expected to continue to rise.
England’s (Irish) champion of clean water!
England’s surprising environmental hero (Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey) says that government must force our water companies to declare the cost of fixing the mess on their balance sheets, if they don’t want to be brought back into public ownership.
Water industry chiefs wouldn’t last two minutes in the music business. Don’t ever be afraid to challenge authority. And don’t be afraid to fight injustice. But I don’t want to be doing it. I want out as quickly as I can. So I can go back to being an obscure bloke who used to make records.
Section 19 of the 1991 Water Act: Oftwat can issue an enforcement order over sewage releases. If they don’t comply, it can fine them 10 percent of annual turnover. The power is there, never been used (in an interview with Robert Crampton, who says Feargal is the most intellectually impressive campaigner he’s ever interviewed).
What happens in mainland Europe?
Many cities in France have brought private water companies back under public ownership, including Paris (the publicly owned L’eau de Paris has both cleaned up water and reduced bills at the same time). This was done in urgency, to athletes could swim in the Seine for the recent Olympic games.
Most water companies in Europe are publicly owned. But mostly regional. For instance, in Switzerland the water is owned by cantons.
Same in The Netherlands, where following serious floods in a low-lying land, local areas have to do their job properly, as they are elected by locals. As a result, they have few floods, and modern inventions kick into play, at even the whisper of a flood.
