Image description: People walking past the Palace of Westminster in the rain. Photo by Heidi Fin on Unsplash
Calls for a referendum on water company ownership
Two campaigners who prominently featured in the recent Channel 4 docudrama Dirty Business have launched a petition calling for a referendum on water company ownership.
As reported in the BBC, Ash Smith and Peter Hammond from Windrush Against Sewage Pollution (Wasp) are calling on the government to bring the water industry back into public ownership. Titled ‘Hold a referendum to bring the water industry into public ownership’, the petition was created on 1 April on the UK Government and Parliament petitions website.
According to a statement released by Smith: “people are sick of being told they can’t have healthy rivers and seas, just because powerful financiers want to keep making money from our water bills. “Our government is listening to them [water companies] but not to us,” he added.
In calling for the public vote, Smith and Hammond were joined by musician and environmental activist Feargal Sharkey, who the BBC reports was “100% behind” the petition, and several other campaigning groups such as Henley Mermaids.
The influence of Dirty Business
Earlier this year, Smith and Hammond featured at the centre of Dirty Business, a factual drama partly based on their decade‑long investigation into England’s water companies. The duo first began investigating the reasons behind stretches of the River Windrush in the Cotswolds were becoming polluted in 2016 and have since called for stronger accountability from the industry and in particular their local provider, Thames Water.
Government says nationalisation “not the answer”
However, a government spokesperson has reportedly responded to the calls for a referendum saying nationalisation “was not the answer”. The government says nationalising the industry would “cost taxpayers £100bn and take years to unpick the current ownership model, during which investment would dry up and sewage pollution into our rivers would get worse”.
While some experts join the government in questioning the financial implications of bringing the industry under public ownership, such as professor of environmental science at Bangor University Christian Dunn who is quoted in the BBC article, others dispute the £100bn figure quoted by the government.
While a parliamentary debate would be triggered by 100,00 signatures, the campaigners are seeking to reach one million so the government “understand we have had enough of being ignored”. At the time of writing the petition has reached almost 50,000 signatures.
Ofwat board split over approval for Thames Water rescue deal, Bloomberg News reports
The board of UK water regulator Ofwat is reportedly split over whether to approve a rescue deal offered by the creditors of Thames Water, according to a Bloomberg News exclusive citing a person familiar with the matter.
According to the report, the water regulator’s board has yet to reach a consensus on the deal floated by senior creditors to save Britain’s largest water supplier, Thames Water.
The creditor group, called London & Valley Water, made a new offer to rescue Thames Water in March that included 3.35 billion pounds ($4.54 billion) of new equity and up to 6.55 billion pounds of new debt. However, the deal has reportedly so far proved unpopular with a majority of Thames Water’s customers.
Thames Water could be nationalised if regulators fail to agree on a deal with the group of senior creditors.
A spokesperson for Ofwat told Reuters it is continuing to engage with London & Valley Water and reviewing their plans carefully to assess whether they deliver a turnaround in Thames Water’s operational performance and strengthen its financial resilience. “Thames Water remains focused on securing a market-led solution that delivers improvements for customers and the environment as soon as practicable whilst continuing to make progress with our operational and financial turnaround plan,” a spokesperson for Thames Water told Reuters.