Hi ,
Anyone else not had any rain for two months? We've just had the sunniest April on record and the third-warmest since 1884, meaning very little rainfall and summer droughts are likely. As I was fussing over my three tomato plants – much like the Green Party, I'm optimistically trying to double last year's crop of 4 to 8 – I was wondering who to blame for this. And I blame my privatised water company. Deep in my bones, I know it's them.
Water companies in the UK aren't necessarily responsible for the extreme weather events we've been seeing, but it's not unreasonable to hold privatisation at least partially responsible for the climate crisis that's driving them. The enormous shift in wealth from public to private hands has allowed utilities to become financialised tools of hedge funds. Macquarie, the Australian hedge fund that creamed profits from Thames Water while loading it up with debt, used those profits to invest in oil and gas while quitting climate investment pledges.
Public control over the decisions made by our utilities would be critical to reducing emissions and adapting to the effects of climate change. Instead, shareholders in half of the world's private companies have failed to set emissions reductions targets and instead demanded that the energy giants they invest in scrap already-paltry green efforts to boost short-term profits.
But privatised water companies specifically are to blame for how much we're going to feel this summer's drought. Now, according to lobbyists for privatised water, "water companies in the private sector are uniquely placed to tackle the effects of climate change" and are "up to meeting [climate change's] challenges."
The privatised water companies have built no new reservoirs in their 30 years of existence. They have taken £85.2bn out of the water system through shareholder payouts in return for losing a trillion litres of water through leaks each year (and a leak rate nearly three times higher than Germany's), the worst sewage dumping in Europe, and huge bill hikes. The result is that two dry months has left United Utilities reservoirs already depleted to 71% and only record-breaking (and flood-causing) rain levels would be required to avoid shortages this summer. The UK is only going to get more hot, dry weather as the climate crisis continues, so it's safe to say our water companies are not actually tackling anything.
The government's response has been to allow Ofwat to choose to ban boss bonuses at water companies. This isn't nothing, but it has very little to do with the actual problems caused by privatised water. However, the government is so determined to prevent nationalisation that it's blackmailing DEFRA by threatening to charge it £4bn if Thames Water is temporarily renationalised. It's also important to understand where the £4bn figure for this "bill" comes from – it's the estimated costs of temporary nationalisation according to a consultant's report. Why does it cost so much? Because, it claims, people will immediately stop paying their bills, staff will quit on the spot unless their wages rise 20%, and the government will set a 10% interest rate on loans. This has absolutely no basis in reality.
That's why we've joined Compass and a constellation of other campaigns to demand that water be brought into public ownership. We're supporting efforts to set up Citizens' Assemblies on water, pressure Steve Reed to allow public ownership, and win the nationalised system supported by 8 in 10 of the public and in place in every country other than England & Wales.
Thames Water. I knew it was them. Even when it wasn't them, I knew it was them. |
