Clean water protesters flood the streets

November 5, 2024 –
From Socialist Worker (UK)

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Marchers wore blue to symbolise a flowing river (Pic: @RSPBAction on Twitter)

The March for Clean Water brought tens of thousands of people onto the streets of London on Sunday. It was supported by a wide variety of organisations, from the National Trust and Women’s Institute to Extinction Rebellion and everything in between.

Not a single river in England is in a healthy state. And despite the water industry claims, things are getting worse.

In 2022 water companies in Britain pumped out sewage for 1.8 million hours, in 2023 that number doubled.

The privatisation of water in 1989 has been a complete failure. We were promised lower bills, more investment and cleaner rivers. What has happened in the last 30 years is the exact opposite, £57 billion has been paid out to shareholders in dividends while the industry has been starved of investment.

Cuts to the Environment Agency means it is not able to do its job properly, to enforce the existing laws. The industry has effectively been given a licence to pollute by the authorities.

Companies like Thames Water are in debt not because they are investing in improving their services but as a result of private equity takeovers. The regulator Ofwat allowed banks like Macquarie to profit from water companies. Macquarie borrowed £2.8 billion to buy Thames Water, but then transferred the debt onto the water company itself. Bill payers are now paying off the debt of the acquisition in addition to the shareholder dividends.

Cliff Roney, a former water worker and London region rep of the GMB union said at the march, “Fat cats have taken the money that should have prevented the environmental disaster that we are now facing.

“The solution is better regulation, accountability, and renationalisation of these companies.

“We share a responsibility to future generations to stop pumping sewage into our rivers and lakes. We must stop this now.”

The crisis afflicting the country’s rivers is not just caused by the water companies. A speaker from the Save the Wye Campaign explained that large chicken factory farms had allowed their manure to be dumped in the River Wye.

People marched wearing blue to form a human river and to make clear demands on the government to enforce the existing laws and to completely reform the water industry and its regulation.

Broadcaster and campaigner Chris Packham said that “the polluters should pay and that means the water companies”. He added, “If we are not listened to, next time we’ll be coming back wearing brown, and you know what that means.”

Source: Socialistworker.co.uk