Hiking water bills to pay to tackle sewage pollution is deeply unfair on customers

It is not fair or just to expect customers to pay twice to clean up the rivers in this country. However, it is also not just or fair to leave rivers in the state that they have been reduced to.

The moral obligation falls on water companies and it is they who should be coming up with the means to clean up our rivers and beaches. They also have an obligation to be investing in the sewage network.

The failure of water companies to invest appropriately when the sun was shining is the reason why so many communities are suffering.

Yorkshire Water has previously taken on debt and paid dividends to shareholders, something water regulator Ofwat would not allow it to do if the business had asserted that current bill levels were not enough to maintain the sewage system.

All that time there was no shortage of generous remuneration for bosses and shareholders.

As Professor Rebecca Malby of the Ilkley Clean River Group says, a multi-million investment in the River Wharfe should be considered basic maintenance and not a reason to raise bills.

It’s a damning indictment that the stretch at Ilkley was the first in England to be designated a bathing site in 2020 but is now likely to lose its status next year as the water quality has been rated poor every year so far.

Regulator Ofwat is due to make its draft determination today on the business plans of water firms for the next five years. Making customers foot the bill would be unfair.

This whole sewage scandal has left question marks over the efficacy of the regulator.