Erick Burgueño Salas
Research expert covering climate change and the water industry
Get in touch with us nowHow is water quality determined?
The threshold to determine whether water bodies reach an acceptable quality depends on the water’s final use. For instance, only 16 percent of surface waters achieved good ecological status in England in 2019, meaning less than a fifth of surface waters had only a slight change from their natural state due to human impact. In terms of bathing water quality, the picture turns slightly less gray. For example, 72 percent of bathing sites in England achieved excellent water quality status in 2022. Nevertheless, this is noticeably low when compared to the water quality of bathing sites in other European countries.The source of water pollution
Even if bathing quality has improved in the past years, the fight for better water quality, in general, is still ongoing. The main sectors responsible for water pollution in Britain are typically agricultural activities such as farm run-off and the water and sewerage industry.Nevertheless, water companies in Great Britain have been facing increased scrutiny and media attention over pollution in recent years, with the majority of people believing they cause the most negative impacts on river quality in England and Wales. In fact, there were 62 serious pollution incidents from sewage and water supply assets in England in 2021 – an increase of 41 percent from the previous year. In 2022, water companies in England released untreated sewage into rivers and coastal areas more than 300,000 times over a period of approximately 1.8 million hours. United Utilities, which provides water and wastewater services in North West England, was the worst offender that year. However, United Utilities is not the only big polluter, with companies such as South West Water, Seven Trent Water, and Yorkshire Water all dumping large amounts of untreated sewage into water bodies throughout the year.
Crisis at the water companies
Decades have now passed since Welsh and English water companies were privatized. Nowadays, the water industry is dominated by overseas investment, and the utilities are in financial struggle, operating an overloaded infrastructure that needs urgent upgrades. In the financial year 2021/2022, South West Water was the only firm to declare profits after tax (PAT), with all other water companies reporting losses. Thames Water reported the biggest loss that year, and as of July 2023 was so indebted that it faced the prospect of nationalization. Despite the losses across the sector, all the companies paid out dividends to their shareholders during the same year, amounting to almost 966 million British pounds in total. Those payments are typically paid to investors when companies are making profits and can afford them. As investors loaded the water sector with debt, the public is carrying the costs, with water bills on the rise. This has put the UK’s privatization model under scrutiny, with many Brits now of the opinion that all water companies should be renationalized and run in the public sector.
