Few people want to be thrown into the River Thames, bar perhaps two – the winning coxes of the Oxford-Cambridge boat race. It has been tradition for the very vocal brains of the operation for the winning boat to be hoyed unceremoniously into the water.
PR stunt or otherwise, the tale brings into sharp relief the regulatory, government and corporate failure at the heart of our water industry. It has become all too easy to say that ‘nothing in Britain works’ but it is abundantly clear in this particular industry, with failures right across the board and the environmental damage left potentially disastrous for decades to come.
In the capital at least, some help is on the way: the Thames Tideway tunnel, a super-sewer, will be the first major improvement to London’s sewage system since the Bazelgette scheme delivered in the mid-19th century.
But even if the water companies managed to get their sh*t together – geddit – there are other concerns. As usual, it comes down to planning.
The last potable reservoir in the UK was completed in 1992, and thanks to a combination of population increases, more unpredictable weather and leakages, by the middle of this century it’s highly likely that we could end up with a water deficit of hundreds of millions of litres a day.
Today, sewage, tomorrow, shortages. It’s hardly a pretty picture.
It could be about to get worse for London, with Thames Water’s financial future still far from clear. Work is underway behind the scenes to ensure that should the company collapse, the taps keep running and sewage remains broadly where it’s supposed to. But the government is refusing to reveal significant details about the contingency plan, and that’s not good enough.
They’ve made a right mess of water regulation over the past decade – sunlight is the best disinfectant for whatever comes next.
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How can Ofwat regulate ‘failing’ firms like Thames Water without pushing them into bankruptcy?