Public ownership of water is the only way to deliver security, efficiency, investment and value for money.
by Prem Sika, Emeritus Professor of Accounting, member of the UK House of Lords, for Left Foot Forward.
37 years of privatisation has been a disaster.
In the era of predatory capitalism people are routinely fleeced by giant corporations. England’s privately-owned water and sewage companies lead the field. With the full approval of the state, they continue to fleece people.
Water companies lose over a trillion litres of water a year to leaky pipes. Sewage is dumped in rivers, lakes and seas for nearly 4m hours, damaging human health, biodiversity and marine life. Since privatisation in 1989, water companies have been convicted of over 1,200 criminal acts but none had their licence to operate revoked.
