Profits Before People - It's Water Now

[Canary42]

I see the privatised water company's failure to invest in their infrastructure (repairing leaks, increasing storage) in order that shareholders can trouser enormous profits from a captive market is putting the public at risk again.

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/water-companies-report-supply-issues-183235801.html

[naomi24]

The 'story continues' button doesn't work for me so I don't know what you're reading, but as far as I can tell the companies are saying that increased demand due to hot weather may cause a drop in pressure - which is understandable and not unusual.

[youngmafbog]

It was no different when a public owned utility.

What is wrong is the contracts, they should stipulate minimum investment into the infrastructure together with enforceable targets for repairs etc.

[Untitled]

a publicly owned utility would be much easier to hold accountable for things like this

[Ryzen]

Install a borehole..its the future :-)

[youngmafbog]

//a publicly owned utility would be much easier to hold accountable for things like this//

Idealistic to think that, the reality is it wasnt.

Having said that I would prefer some of our utilities to be under our control.

[Untitled]

it might not have been the way that we did it back in the 70s but that doesn’t mean public utilities cannot work. Plenty of countries manage it.

[Old_Geezer]

Aren't they under some kind of legal/contractual obligation to supply what is needed even in extreme circumstances ? And if not, why not ?

If they can't the government needs to return control and ensure it's run properly. After all, it's a vital utility and it's important thst all have enough for both survival and hygiene/safety reasons.

[naomi24]

//Aren't they under some kind of legal/contractual obligation to supply what is needed even in extreme circumstances ? //

I don't know - but they're doing that, aren't they? I don't think they've said that anyone is going to be without water, have they?

[Old_Geezer]

“This means you may notice lower pressure or no water when demand is higher in your area.”

[Old_Geezer]

Even lower pressure can be beyond reason if you live at the top of a hill. Especially in the upstairs bathroom

[naomi24]

Ah, right. Don't know then.

[sandyRoe]

Are these the same companies that are happy to dump raw sewage into our rivers?
They're hardly trussed up in red tape.