The UK’s water sector has been under intense public scrutiny for years for its dismal record in dealing with leaks and sewage spills. The mess in England and Wales essentially began with the privatisation of this public service into 11 private, commercial water companies. According to Ofwat, the UK’s water industry regulator, the number of sewage spills has soared by 54 per cent, from 301,091 in 2002 to 464,056 last year.
Ofwat decided last week that English and Welsh water companies could spend £88 billion on infrastructure improvements between 2025 and 2030. These proposals will be funded by increasing household water bills by an average of £94 over the five-year period. Households shall pay for these needed works, while at the same time water companies continue to pay large dividends to shareholders and bonuses to executives. Severn Trent, for example, paid its chief executive Liv Garfield £3.2 million, including a £584,000 bonus in 2023, despite being responsible for around 60,000 sewage spills that year.
Ofwat has now opened enforcement proceedings against Welsh Water, Hafren Dyfrdwy, Severn Trent and United Utilities in relation to wastewater management, having previously done so against Southern Water (2019), Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, South West Water, Thames Water, Wessex Water and Yorkshire Water (2022). Ofwat is now investigating all 11 companies in the English and Welsh water sector over wastewater. David Black, Ofwat’s Chief Executive, said:
«The fact that Ofwat now has enforcement cases with all 11 of the wastewater companies in England and Wales demonstrates how concerned we are about the sector’s environmental performance.»
With these investigations into all 11 private water companies that are dealing also with wastewater, Ofwat is also trying to regain its own tarnished reputation. For all these years, Ofwat has been unable or unwilling to take action to enforce the law and ensure clean water in households, in rivers and on beaches. Under the previous Tory government, which privatised the water industry, there was apparently no will to let Ofwat do its job. Whether this will change under the Labour government remains to be seen. For water and public service campaigners like Cat Hobs, it is clear that only bringing water and other public services back into public ownership and control will ensure that they are run in the public interest.
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