Water belongs to the people and should never have profit attached to it - GP Taylor

Recently, I waded through Our Plan for Water, an 81-page report put out by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Submerged deep within it are details on how the government intends to plug what it believes will be a shortage of four billion litres per day in the public water supply by 2050. This will be done, under the Environment Act 2021, by cutting household water use from an average of 144 litres per person per day to 122 per person per day in 2038, and then to just 110 litres per person per day by 2050.

That is a big reduction in our supposed unlimited water supply. In other words, we will all have our water rationed and all for the sake of the climate change con and Net Zero.

Yet again, it is the poor consumer who is blamed for water shortages. No one mentions the leaking pipes, badly maintained reservoirs and water companies pumping sewage into our rivers and seas. No, it is households across Britain that are to blame and must be financially punished.

Instead of water companies building more reservoirs, fixing the water leaks and stopping the estimated 300,000 sewage leaks last year, DEFRA are seeking to educate us all into using less water. Nobody seems to care about the 2.4 billion litres of water lost under our streets every day, all the government wants to do is guilt the public into using less and less.

We are all going to be educated into the benefits of using less water and according to DEFRA this raised awareness of the value of water will lead to “sustained behavioural change”. Typically, this will be use less and pay more. Some commentators have even suggested that water companies may impose draconian charges on people using more than their allotted daily amount of water. This could be done by charging one rate for your allowed 144 litres and then doubling the price for anything over that.

In 2022, Project Fear caused us all to turn down our heating and now they want us to turn off our taps, all done as the politician’s worship at the altar of the great god climate change.

You may have noticed that this spring has been quite wet. The lush, green fields of our countryside prove this. On average, Yorkshire has 100 rainy days per year. Nationally, it rains for a whopping 148 days. According to their website, Yorkshire Water says that in April, our reservoirs are 96 per cent full. There is plenty of water. Sadly, this water isn’t wasted by the customers, but by the companies failing to stop leaks and build new infrastructure.

There is no need in this country to have any water shortages. These are caused by poor water management and not by the consumer.

Surely, it is time for water companies to be nationalised and brought back into public ownership and be fully accountable. They cannot be left in the hands of private companies. Surfers Against Sewage recently said that “Southern Water pleaded guilty to 51 counts of knowingly discharging sewage into the sea. The case brought to light shocking new evidence of their deceit and illegal activity in their attempt to maximise profits.”

Water should never have profit attached to it.

According to Fergal Sharkey, South West Water has been fined 161 times over the last 10 years, a total of £4,573,634 for polluting rivers. Sharkey says fines don't work, something else needs to be done. I agree. It is outrageous that only 15 per cent of our rivers have a good ecological status.

Access to water is a right and not a privilege and should be free for everyone. There should never be a charge on something so vital. It is immoral that water is in the hands of companies and not the local citizens. Water is not a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder.

According to research by the Guardian newspaper, foreign investment firms, private equity, pension funds and businesses lodged in tax havens own more than 70 per cent of the water industry in England. Since privatisation, £72bn has gone to shareholders, even though water companies have built up a debt mountain of £53bn and used this to finance dividends for shareholders.

This situation should not be allowed to carry on. Water is not a weapon to be used to suppress the people. Everyone in this country should be able to drink, wash and clean with this precious commodity without the grubby hands of big business attempting to ration or out price it from our grasp.

GP Taylor is a writer and broadcaster who lives in Yorkshire.