The privatised English water system has been singled out for criticism by the UN special rapporteur on the human right to clean water.

Photo by Nick Vasin

Prof Pedro Arrojo-Agudo said water systems should be managed as a publicly owned service, rather than run by private companies set up to benefit shareholders.

The report ‘Water and Economy Nexus: Managing Water for Productive Uses from a Human Rights Perspective’ was presented at the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council. Arrojo-Agudo singled out for criticism the privatised English water system and said the regulator Ofwat had shown a complacent attitude towards the financial systems of private water firms.

The report states “In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, where a privatized model was imposed under the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, a powerful and expensive regulatory institution, the Water Services Regulation Authority or Ofwat, was created. However, the lack of transparency and public participation,49 and its complacency towards the financial strategies of private companies to benefit their shareholders at the detriment of the service received by the public, call into question its effectiveness.”

Download the UN report here

Covered in The Guardian English water system singled out for criticism by UN special rapporteur