Is it time to renationalise water?

I don't know about Scottish water, but Welsh Water 


 In 2022, Welsh Water was responsible for 89 sewage pollution incidents. Out of these, five were classified as having a high or significant impact12. The company’s environmental performance declined, leading to a downgrade in its rating from three stars to two stars, indicating that it “requires improvement” according to Natural Resources Wales (NRW)1.



Additionally, Welsh Water released sewage into rivers, lakes, and the sea around Wales for nearly 600,000 hours last year, accounting for more than 25% of all discharges into waterways across Wales and England. The latest figures also reveal over 83,000 spills in 2022, with 77,000 of them being classified as "significant"3.

They are having to spend 3.5 Billion to try and address the same problems we have in England 

I am old enough to remember the Water Industry pre-privatisation.

Where I live rivers were dredged once a decade to alleviate flood risks.
Roadside drainage ditched were continually maintained to alleviate flood risks.
The local Sewerage Processing and Pumping Station was maintained regularly.
Locally, leaks were fixed in a matter of days.
If you had a problem you could walk into the local Water Office and speak to a real person, and they would expedite the solution in a timely manner.

Since Privatisation the EXACT opposite is true.

Only ONE group of people have benefitted from the Privatisation of Water - shareholders.
Only one country, and one world leader (Maggie Thatcher) was Ideologically Moronic enough as to think the most essential public utility needed for ALL Life was a suitable target for privatisation.


All 

I remember hosepipe bans and assurances this would be a thing of the past with privatised supplies assured.

I recall in 1981 the local paper announced the head of the water board had been given a pay rise to £35,000 and given a gong (an MBE if i recall right) after a year of drought - but nothing like ‘76 - and remember at the time dad’s house was valued at £55k, he was paid about £25k and i was getting £8,500 as a graduate with 3 years research experience

I remember freelancing for Lusis IT the outsourcing shysters that did the later bankrupt Welsh Water’s computer systems in ‘97 and their board’s directors delight at being authorised to fit Quantum meters that cut the supply to a trickle so they could remotely cause eviction on the grounds of a home being unfit for human habitation

I also remember Bristol (possibly Bristol And Avon) water being tbe first company to be given the right to fit water meters to every property whether you wanted one or not, saying this would cut down usage. It succeeded beyond the company’s wildest dreams. Water usage fell by almost 30%, ‘forcing the company to double its prices’ the next year, and the next

I remember Welsh Water abandoning interest in water quality and going into the business of acquiring and building upmarket hotels on its rural estate largely acquired by compulsory purchase for reservoir building

And i recall stretches of the River Test drying up because water companies sunk boreholes into the aquefers and drained the water table.

Well to be fair H, I didn't say Welsh Water were perfect, I think JoG might have had something to say about that lol. But Welsh Water is, I believe, run on a not-for-profit basis which is how it should be. It's immoral that every time you turn the tap on you're generating profit for foreign shareholders. The water industry should be owned by the government, the British government btw, not foreign governments. 

Not publicly because it is not in the public domain it would have been like an episode of spooks to take out the dark actors.

The problem is when groups get too big some employ agent provocateurs when their income stream is threatened.

The same with the mafia or your local bully you impact their business they will try and get revenge.

How much have they invested?