It’s been an interesting week for England’s privately owned water companies. Thames Water, the largest of them all, is teetering on the brink, weighed down by billions of pounds of debt.
And it’s the same story right across the country.
Private water companies are failing: financially, environmentally and morally. Our rivers get murkier while our bills rise, and shareholders get richer. But it’s not unexpected. We handed over a public necessity to private firms, who siphoned off profits, neglected infrastructure, dumped sewage into rivers, and now expect us to clean up the mess.
And we’re told “there’s no money” to fix this problem, but there always seems to be enough for dividends. It’s extraordinary.
Water is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. And it doesn’t belong in the portfolio of a hedge fund, or in the hands of a private equity firm. It belongs to all of us, cared for in the public interest, run for public good.
Fortunately, the writing is on the wall for Thames Water and the government is reportedly stepping up plans for temporary nationalisation.
But why stop there?
Permanent nationalisation makes more sense, and the cost is far lower than many corporate MPs would have us believe.
The campaign group We Own It has produced a petition calling on MPs to pledge: ‘Make Thames Water Public’ and resist any sell-off back to the private profiteers.
With 82% of us supporting publically owned water (YouGov, 2024), isn’t it time our voices were heard? You can email your MP now: Take Action - get your MP to take the Thames Water pledge | We Own It
Bringing water back into public ownership benefits everyone. The people who depend on it, pay for it, and live with the consequences of corporate greed, should get a say on these matters and a right to a clean river.
If we can’t trust private companies to keep sewage out of our rivers, then it’s time to take those companies out of the water for good.