The Environment Agency and the water industry regulator Ofwat have forecast that unless a major shift occurs in water provision by 2035 then England and Wales will face water shortages of terrifying consequences. The privatised water companies agree with them. Only Northumbrian Water out of England and Wales’s 11 privatised water companies will have a surplus of supply based upon present reservoir reserves.
Meanwhile the companies are driving up water prices by between 1.7 and 3 per cent above inflation for the next five years. Their refusal to genuinely address the water infrastructure – which includes the national grid plus reservoir construction – borders on criminal. If cost of construction was a meaningful argument then the electricity grid would never have been built, nor the national oil pipeline.
No water means no life. We cannot allow the water industry to remain in privatised hands: renationalise water now!