Over the past eight posts, we’ve peeled back the layers of the UK water industry: personal struggles, foreign ownership, profit extraction, cost-shifting to insurers, toothless regulators, and the potential of mass information requests. The evidence is overwhelming. The current system is broken. The question now is: what must replace it?
This post lays out the solutions — the reforms that could build a water system fit for the future.
1. End Dividend Extraction
The first and most obvious step is to stop the flow of profits out of the system:
- Ban dividend payments until leakage rates and sewage spills are under control.
- Link executive pay to service performance, not financial engineering.
- Require all surplus revenue to be reinvested in infrastructure and resilience.
Every year, £1.6–£1.8 billion leaves the sector as dividends. That money could be the lifeline our water system desperately needs.
2. Introduce Non-Profit or Public Ownership Models
The Welsh model (Glas Cymru / Dŵr Cymru) proves there is another way:
- No shareholders.
- Surpluses reinvested.
- Customers benefit directly.
Scaling this to England could redirect billions into infrastructure upgrades while shielding customers from endless bill hikes.
Renationalisation would cost £50–£90 billion, but the long-term savings and reinvestment potential make it viable — especially when compared to the hidden costs customers already pay through higher bills and insurance premiums.
3. Strengthen Regulators
Regulation cannot remain a box-ticking exercise:
- Ofwat must be empowered to block dividends when performance fails.
- The Environment Agency needs the resources to prosecute polluters, not just record spills.
- The ASA and Trading Standards must step up against misleading advertising like “Save Water” campaigns.
- The CMA should review the monopolistic structure of the industry and the absence of consumer choice.
4. Transparency by Default
Secrecy is the enemy of accountability. Mandatory disclosure should include:
- Real-time leakage and sewage spill data.
- Annual breakdowns of investor payouts versus reinvestment.
- Public registers of ownership, including sovereign wealth funds.
Customers should not have to file DSARs or FOIs to discover basic truths about their water provider.
5. Protect Customers from Cost-Shifting
The “your pipe, your problem” loophole must be closed:
- Clear legal responsibility for underground infrastructure must rest with the water companies, not homeowners and insurers.
- Insurers must be protected from being forced to subsidise water company failures.
- Customers should not be paying twice — once in bills, again in insurance premiums.
6. Put the Public First
Water is not a luxury. It is essential. Policy must reflect that:
- Access to clean, reliable water should be treated as a public right, not a profit centre.
- Investment decisions must prioritise public health and environmental protection.
- Governance must include customer representation, not just investors and executives.
The Road Ahead
Reform will not be easy. Powerful investors — including overseas sovereign wealth funds — have a stake in maintaining the status quo. Regulators will resist admitting their failings. Politicians will hesitate at the cost of change. But the cost of doing nothing is greater: collapsing infrastructure, poisoned rivers, higher bills, and rising insurance premiums.
The public has the tools — DSARs, FOIs, and collective action — to force transparency. The next step is to turn evidence into pressure, and pressure into reform.
💧 Takeaway: The current system is failing customers, the environment, and the nation. Ending dividend extraction, adopting non-profit ownership, strengthening regulators, and enforcing transparency are the pillars of a fairer water system. Change is no longer optional — it is urgent.