An event at Wanstead Library on 2 October will consider the future of the water industry. It takes place in the run-up to the March for Clean Water in Westminster on 26 October. Paul Kaufman reports
The long list of official March for Clean Water supporters includes the WI, National Trust, RSPB and a host of environmental organisations. The organisers are River Action and Surfers Against Sewage. Feargal Sharkey, former lead singer of The Undertones, now a figurehead for water campaigners, said: “We call on the government to end the environmental devastation being inflicted upon our rivers, lakes and seas. It stops here, it stops today, it stops now. End pollution, end polluting for profit.”
Our own River Roding has the dubious distinction of being a winner on the ‘Top of the Poops’ website. This records that in 2023 alone there were 307 sewage spills lasting 959 hours.
Local campaigner and environmental lawyer Paul Powlesland discovered in 2021 that a malfunction was sending raw sewage directly into the Alders Brook, a tributary of The Roding. No-one even knew about it. He reported it at the time to both the Environment Agency and Thames Water. Two years later, it had still not been fixed. Paul told the i newspaper: “It had probably been going on for some time, possibly years due to the amount of toilet paper that was embedded in the silt of the brook.” Freedom of Information data shows the regulator failed to visit 90% of reported incidents in 2022, including more than 60% of the most serious incidents.
The English water industry was handed debt-free to private water monopolies, including Thames Water, in 1989. PM Thatcher wiped off £5 billion of debt before the handover. Thames Water now has debts totalling over £15 billion. The argument was that private investment was necessary to fix the crumbling infrastructure. On this measure, the experiment has failed miserably. There has been gross underinvestment. Much of the debt arose to pay dividends to shareholders. Thames Water is now demanding massive price hikes. Consumers are being asked to cough up for their shortcomings.
Speakers at the Wanstead event representing a range of views will examine the issues and the political options.
Water is publicly owned in the vast majority of countries. For the moment, the government is set against re-nationalisation. Its answer is tougher regulation. Campaigners have pointed out that regulation hasn’t worked. Some argue that private monopolies will always put profit before consumers and the environment and, to use the crude but apt expression, more regulation is simply an attempt to ‘polish a turd.’
The future of our water – an event organised by the East London Humanists – will take place at Wanstead Library on 2 October (free entry; doors open at 7pm; event begins at 7.30pm). For more information, visit wnstd.com/water
