// We have never valued water in the UK and that includes the water companies.//
We shouldn't need to "value" it in the UK. Water is the most recyclable of all raw materials. It falls from the sky. Around 42 inches of rain falls across the country on average every year. That's getting on for 300 litres (66 gallons) per person per day.
No, it doesn't all fall in the same place at the same time. That's where the water companies come in. It is their job to collect it, store it, purify it and distribute it to the people who need it, where they need it. These are tasks which they have been found to be incapable of every time there is a spell of dry weather. So they impose a hosepipe ban. This saves 0.75% of all the water distributed (if fully complied with) and is a farce.
If the water falling from the sky is insufficient, the UK is surrounded by the stuff. Nowhere is more than about 70 miles from the sea and most places are considerably closer than that. But the only desalination plant in the country is at Beckton in East London. This was completed ostensibly to ease pressure on London's water supply as the city's population rapidly grows. In fact it was completed in time for the London Olympics and it is likely that it was a vanity project to ensure, as hosts, the UK was not embarrassed during the games if a drought occurred.
https://www.water-technology.net/projects/water-desalination/
The plant is currently out of service "undergoing maintenance" but is unlikely to be used anyway because of "high energy costs."
https://www.energynewsline.co.uk/energy-live-news/thames-water-switches-off-emergency-desalination-plant-due-to-high-energy-costs/
The water supply issue in the UK is a disgrace.