Water companies

If you watched Dirty Business, I am sure you will share my shock and disgust at the actions of the water companies featured in the programme — and at the regulatory failures that allowed those actions to continue for so long.

Decades of underinvestment by water companies, particularly since privatisation in the late 1980s, combined with weaker oversight from successive governments, have left us with a system failing both the environment and the public. Instead of reinvesting profits into infrastructure such as sewage treatment works and pipe networks, too much money has flowed to shareholders while our waterways have suffered.

Whether or not the precise health impacts of walking through or surfing in contaminated water are fully understood, it is unacceptable that untreated — or partially treated — sewage continues to be discharged into our rivers and coastal waters.

The Government has recently passed the Water (Special Measures) Act, which strengthens regulators’ powers to block executive bonuses when companies fail environmental standards and introduces tougher penalties for serious breaches. These steps are welcome, but they are long overdue and only begin to address a crisis many years in the making.

People rightly find it astonishing that water company executives still receive huge pay packages while customers face rising bills and sewage spills are treated as normal.

If companies break the law or damage the environment, there must be real consequences — not just for the companies but for the individuals responsible.

For too long water companies have been allowed to report their own pollution incidents. Communities deserve clear, real-time information about what is being discharged into local waterways.

Closer to home, we have seen pollution affecting the River Stour when heavy rainfall overwhelms sewer systems, mixing stormwater with wastewater from homes and businesses. Too often infrastructure has failed to keep pace with housing growth, placing more pressure on already overstretched systems.

Residents have experienced sewage backing up into homes and gardens because pipes are damaged or overloaded. Fish deaths in rivers are also linked to agricultural and industrial run-off that has not been properly addressed. Protecting waterways requires stronger enforcement across all sources of pollution.

Like many households, I was shocked when my latest water bill arrived. I encourage residents on low incomes — particularly those with large families or medical conditions requiring additional water use — to check whether they qualify for the Water Sure scheme. Liberal Democrats are also calling for a single social tariff, so vulnerable households are not forced to restrict essential water use.

Tackling sewage pollution was a key Liberal Democrat priority at the last General Election and remains one today. Clean water is not a luxury — it is a basic human right and fundamental to public health and a healthy environment.

In Parliament, I was proud to co-sponsor legislation to protect our precious chalk streams and support work to restore the River Allen. Projects like this improve habitats and connect local communities with the rivers that run through our area.

Waterways should be safe to swim, paddle and fish and if water companies continue to put profits before people and the environment, then stronger action will be unavoidable. Communities deserve a water system that works in the public interest — and if the current model cannot deliver that, then fundamental reform, including ending private ownership, must be firmly on the table.