Fat profits and filth – it’s time to bring water back into public ownership

Responding to public anger over the unceasing flow of excrement into the UK’s rivers and onto its coasts, Water UK, which represents privatised water companies across the country, has issued a statement on the situation via their chair Ruth Kelly.

The statement acknowledges the “upset and the anger from the fact that there have been overspills of untreated sewage onto beaches and into rivers over the past few years” and goes on to say: “We’re sorry that we didn’t act sooner, but we get it.” An “unprecedented plan” was announced to tackle the problem. The water companies are prepared to invest £10bn into sewage infrastructure to cut the volume of raw sewage they’re putting into rivers and seas.

And the cost of this “unprecedented plan”? It will be passed onto customers, who can expect to see a “modest increase in bills”.

Why do they expect the public to pay for their plan?

Since the water industry was sold off in 1989, the privatised water companies have paid their shareholders £6.5bn in dividends. According to the dogma of the free-market dividends are the “reward” for providing better services.

Except the water owners haven’t delivered better services. They’ve let the infrastructure decay while they have lined their pockets. All privatisation has delivered are fat profits for shareholders and filth in rivers for the rest of us.

It’s time to bring water back into public ownership without a penny of compensation to its current owners. The water industry should be a public service operating to provide society with clean water and environmentally friendly sewage treatment – not a racket designed to make huge profits for a selfish few.

Sasha Simic

London

While we bemoan the state of our nation, it is worth considering why we appear to be in such a state of disarray. My view is simply that the government has no effective strategies – indeed, why else would they (as Penny Mordaunt outlined) pursue a small-state, low-tax, personal-responsibility ethos?

It’s clear that the government is willing to leave its public to define its own way forward! We have no business or investment strategy, no health strategy, no public transport strategy, no environmental strategy, no education strategy, no employment or industrial relations strategy, no energy strategy, and no water strategy.

As a consultant once said: “If you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?”

It is about time we had a government with a coherent set of strategies.

Steve Barnes

Kent

Yet again Labour’s Stephen Morgan hits the nail on the head.

The shadow schools minister was so right to expose the current business rates system and how it punishes small and family-run businesses in the House of Commons recently.

I’m delighted that Labour will scrap regressive business rates to give small businesses the opportunity to thrive.

As it stands, it is completely unfair to balance a budget just on the back of working people, particularly when funds could be gained by making large corporations pay their way instead.

Geoffrey Brooking

Hampshire

We noted your coverage of the record number of people off work due to long-term ill health, whether that be mental health, musculoskeletal, or post-viral issues. These concerning ONS statistics demonstrate why everyone of working age must have access to occupational health.

Prevention and early intervention through occupational health is proven to reduce the number of people off work with long-term sickness, and also reduces the demand on the NHS. Managing absenteeism and helping people back into work through occupational health is vital if these worrying trends are to be reversed.

Occupational health is currently only available to half the UK workforce. It shouldn’t be a luxury, but a basic requirement. Access is needed for all, and we are calling for all large businesses to offer occupational health.

Employers of all sizes must ensure that their employees remain physically, socially, financially, and emotionally well at work.

Nick Pahl,CEO at Society of Occupational Medicine, Anna Jones, general manager at Commercial Occupational Health Providers Association

Of course Elon Musk wants highways busy with commuter traffic. I’m sure his business model would thrive if we all got behind the wheel of a Tesla to get to work. No doubt all those remote workers spend too much of their time on Twitter instead of being productive!

Seriously though, anyone that really cares about the global climate crisis would be a little more selfless, and appreciate how vital the role of remote working is to our future. No wonder Musk spends most of his fortune trying to find new planets to colonise.

Paul Morrison

Glasgow