We should all support the March for Clean Water

Tomorrow, thousands will march through London to demand cleaner rivers and seas. Many people who work for water companies will be marching with them.  

Nobody wants sewage in our rivers and seas. It’s disgusting and a threat to wildlife and humans. We have all seen images of sewage in what should be pristine streams and rivers.  

Many think this issue is unique to the UK. Sadly, it’s a feature of sewers across much of the world. Germany, for example, has nearly five times as many sewers that overflow into rivers as England. As our triathletes experienced in Paris during the Olympic Games, old sewers across the world mix wastewater and rainwater and they cannot cope when there is a very heavy downpour.  

To stop it entirely, would mean ripping up the centre of every city to segregate the pipe network. It would take decades and the social and economic cost would be incalculable. Instead, we need to stop as much rain entering the system in the first place by building massive tanks to store the rain and stop it overwhelming sewers.

People are right to ask why we didn’t do this years ago. Water companies, regulators and successive governments all failed to see the problem and failed to act. Some thought the money could be better spent elsewhere. Others took a short-term view and thought it better to put the investment off and keep the immediate costs down. Both approaches were wrong.  

Contrary to popular belief water companies cannot invest as much as they like. As natural monopolies, water companies need a regulator who can ensure investment only happens when it’s needed. Unfortunately, in England and Wales, the regulator Ofwat has consistently prevented much needed investment.  

Bills have fallen as a result. Raising bills is never welcome, but they would be 25% higher if they had merely followed inflation since 2010. By suppressing bills, our environment and, increasingly, our economy has paid a large price.  

Because we haven’t been allowed to build a new reservoir in more than 30 years, we now don’t have enough. In parts of Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire and Essex, new homes are being blocked and businesses can’t expand due to a lack of water. In Cambridge, even a new cancer hospital was delayed because of a lack of water.  

We all agree that we urgently need more investment. The only real questions are exactly how much and who should pay for it.  

Having consulted independent engineering and environmental experts, we think we need to invest £108 billion over the next five years. Ofwat, the regulator, has proposed cutting that by £20 billion. The days of presuming that ever more can be done with ever less must come to an end. Our environment and our economy can’t afford it.  

Many argue that water bills shouldn’t rise to pay for investment. It’s often argued that shareholders should repay their dividends and CEOs their bonuses instead. Even if that were possible, the money wouldn’t even cover three-quarters of investment costs for the next five years.  

We have seen from the Budget that the country doesn’t have much money. So, we need investors to pay for the huge projects needed.  

As well as investment – we need urgent reform, and the march is right to call for it. The system is not working. It is too complicated, too slow and is not delivering for people or the environment.  We welcome the Government’s review, and I hope the result will be a new process that will fast-track investment.  

Reform will take time, but Ofwat is preparing to make its final decision on investment over the next five years. It is a critically important that they don’t short-change our country again.  

The situation we find ourselves in is urgent. The thousands who will march in London tomorrow are right to demand clean water. Water companies have a plan to deliver. All we need is permission from Ofwat to get on with it.