We really need to take water back into public ownership

In addition, the target date for cleaning up our waterways has now been put back 36 years to 2063!
www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/22/target-date-for-cleaning-up-waterways-in-england-is-moved-back-by-36-years

That is terrible.

Yes, I read that too Nandalot, truly disgusting.

Luckily we are not affected here but this stems from years and years of non maintenance, the same as the roads with potholes, the gutters that overflow due to being allowed to clog up….I could go on. Money is spent on all the wrong things in this country. The infrastructure is not there anymore. You don’t see this in other countries unless they are third world.

Money is spent on all the wrong things in this country.

Money isn't being spent on anything to improve infrastructure in this country any more.

I agree HPQ we in Hampshire are SW, not only do they discharge raw sewage into the sea and rivers many homes and businesses have been without water for nearly 2 days. They’re not fit for purpose.

Wrong kind of frost! Yes, the water companies - which are highly profitable monopolies - should be re-nationalized. No compensation should be paid as they have distributed massive profits to shareholders.

MaizieD

^Money is spent on all the wrong things in this country.^

Money isn't being spent on anything to improve infrastructure in this country any more.

Agreed and that is what I said, nothing is spent on the infrastructure which is why there are always problems when we have snow, frost, heavy rains, heatwaves….in other words normal British weather. Years and years ago, these things were maintained but now nothing is. Where I used to live, every year the gutters were clogged up with leaves and the drains overflowed, the pavements were awash with slippery leaves and every year it was a problem. We moved earlier this year to a completely new area and I have to say things don’t seem quite so bad. Previously we were in a London borough with a Liberal Democrat council.

I have just found the thread about those members who are having problems/no water. So sorry. I still stand by my comments about water needing to be taken back into public ownership, nobody should be making a profit from a necessity of life, let alone being permitted to be responsible for the rapid and serious deterioration of the standards of rivers and beaches.

Shareholders do extremely well but refrain actually doing anything about the infrastructure.

And yet it affects us all, whoever you are. We all need water, we all use the roads, transport, all these things. It is a ridiculous situation.

Gutters aren't the responsibility of the water companies, Forsythia. (or are you talking about roadside gutters?) And when you have a government which for the last 12 years has been cutting funding to local authorities some things which have been their responsibility, such as clearing pavements and unclogging drains, have to go by the by. The tories call it 'efficiency savings'.

It's extraordinary, isn't it? There are plenty of jobs that need doing, but the government won't allow councils enough money to get them done. Which not only causes practical problems such as those you've noted, but also shrinks the domestic economy.

It doesn't make much difference as to the 'colour' of the council, tory, Labour or LibDem, if they don't have the money they can't provide a full service.

Maizie Most roadside drains are the responsibility of water companies.

Is anybody disagreeing with you MaizieD? I’m not. And yes, I’m talking about the gutters in the roads which, years ago, were swept clean so the water ran away. Now, they’re rarely swept, leaves block the gutters and the roads are flooded.

It's actually quite complicated. The local authority is responsible for keeping pavements clear of leaves, but not if the gutter is next to a country road with no pavement. Landowners are responsible for keeping their trees and hedges trimmed to their boundaries, so are responsible for any dropping leaves in autumn. The water/sewerage company is responsible for keeping the drains free-flowing.

I once went to a council meeting when drains were on the agenda (although I was attending for another reason) and couldn't believe the buck-passing. Not surprisingly, nothing was resolved, but somebody agreed to write a letter .

Where we lived previously, in a London borough, the road gutters were swept regularly until the council contracted out to Veolia. From that point on, the service was abysmal. Each year our roads, which were not country roads, we’re flooded and the reason was all the leaves banked up over the drains in the roads. If they had swept them regularly then the debris wouldn’t have built up to such an extent the roads flooded. The residents association pestered the council every year to deal with it. The whole borough was affected, not just the part where I lived.

Even if water was taken back into public hands, this Government would not spend the money that is needed.
Labour don't seem any keener than the Tories to give us our own water back.

Taking the water suppliers back into public ownership would not solve those problems, Forsythia. They are nothing to do with them.

growstuff

It's actually quite complicated. The local authority is responsible for keeping pavements clear of leaves, but not if the gutter is next to a country road with no pavement. Landowners are responsible for keeping their trees and hedges trimmed to their boundaries, so are responsible for any dropping leaves in autumn. The water/sewerage company is responsible for keeping the drains free-flowing.

I once went to a council meeting when drains were on the agenda (although I was attending for another reason) and couldn't believe the buck-passing. Not surprisingly, nothing was resolved, but somebody agreed to write a letter .

The reality of democracy in action, pass the buck, blame the contractor, the contractor blames the weather.

Forsythia

Where we lived previously, in a London borough, the road gutters were swept regularly until the council contracted out to Veolia. From that point on, the service was abysmal. Each year our roads, which were not country roads, we’re flooded and the reason was all the leaves banked up over the drains in the roads. If they had swept them regularly then the debris wouldn’t have built up to such an extent the roads flooded. The residents association pestered the council every year to deal with it. The whole borough was affected, not just the part where I lived.

In addition to being a water company, Veolia is primarily a waste management company. I would imagine it was in its role in waste management that it was supposed to keep the drains free. So they could shrug their shoulders and say "It's not us guv".

Veolia was my water company until it sold that branch of the business to Affinity Water.

Labour don't seem any keener than the Tories to give us our own water back

That's surely because Keir Starmer wants to create clear blue water between him and Jeremy Corbyn. Even though there is a ground swell of public wanting public ownership, as soon as the Labou party mention it, the Tory press will cry back to the 70's or something equally ridiculous..

I don't know why no one will step in, but yes I believe the government should step in as it seems that water is a basic necessity for survival, health and hygiene. To have it's provision under threat, or contaminated, seems archaic and so wrong.

*yes, We really do need to take water back into public
ownership*