A new direction for our water

I moved to Sheffield over fifteen years ago now, and even though it’s one of the first things people say to you when you move here, I still find it remarkable how quickly you can leave the city behind and find yourself surrounded by outstanding natural beauty.

Recently, one of my favourite routes has been to get on a 61 bus from Hillsborough Interchange out to Bradfield, to walk around Damflask reservoir. The journey up the Loxley valley is lovely itself, and when you get there the water and its views are serene. It’s a wonderful breath of fresh air away from the city, reachable by public transport in just under half an hour.

Damflask, along with nearby Agden, is fed by the River Loxley as it winds its way through Sheffield before joining the Don. And yet last year, as in most years, Yorkshire Water discharged raw sewage into both rivers.

There is something almost cartoonishly evil about the act of pumping raw sewage into the rivers that people walk beside, swim in, and take pride in. It is a choice. A choice made by those who do not care about other people or the environment, only the naked pursuit of profit.

You would think that behaviour like this carries serious consequences. That there are checks and balances in place to properly hold the bosses responsible for repeated environmental breaches to account. But no.

In fact, last year Yorkshire Water’s CEO Nicola Shaw even received a £1.3 million bonus.

What makes this even more galling is that, only months earlier, the Labour government had introduced a ban on bonuses for water company bosses whose firms fail to meet environmental standards. The Water (Special Measures) Act was designed precisely to stop this kind of thing, with Yorkshire Water explicitly named as one of the worst offenders.

So how did the bonus get paid? Through an offshore parent company, Kelda Holdings.

It is hard to think of a better illustration of what is broken about our privatised water system. Environmental mismanagement is seen as business as usual, meaningful accountability is non-existent, and we the public are expected to shrug our shoulders in resignation.

And perhaps the most depressing part of all is how numb we become to it. Stories like this barely raise an eyebrow anymore. We have been conditioned to accept that this is just the way things work.

But it does not have to be this way.

Water is a necessity, not a luxury. We all need access to clean, safe water to live. If the companies responsible for our waterways are failing to deliver that – if they pollute our rivers and pay themselves millions to do so – then we need a new way of doing things.

On February 26, Olivia Blake MP will be holding a public meeting in Crosspool about the future of our water. She wants to create a Hallam Water Plan, to set out the changes constituents would like to see for the future of our water. She says that Yorkshire Water’s repeated failures raise serious questions about privatisation, and that it is time for an honest conversation about how we fix what is broken.

Blake knows well the consequences of their failure. In December 2022 she was forced to redeploy her constituency office to Stannington and led doorknocking forces to get support to the most vulnerable, after a water pipe burst and flooded a gas main, leaving thousands of homes without heating for weeks in the middle of winter.

If the justification for privatisation was ever about improving the quality of our ageing infrastructure, then nearly four decades on we can put that fiction to bed. Because the results of years of corporate control are clear. Polluted rivers. Antiquated infrastructure. Annual hosepipe bans. Annual bill increases. All the while, billions are siphoned off to shareholders.

We deserve better than this. And we can have it, if we stop pretending that private companies can manage something as fundamental as water.

Imagine water under democratic control. Rivers and reservoirs managed transparently. Bills invested in infrastructure, not dividends. Managers’ pay set accountably and capped. Boards with representatives from local authorities and workers, making decisions for the public, not shareholders overseas.

This is not a dream. And it would even be cheaper than the current system.

The Common Wealth thinktank tell us that public ownership is an inexpensive solution for the country. That the actual cost would be close to zero.

This is because the entire industry is bankrupt, with a collective debt of £65 billion. Yorkshire Water alone has amassed debts worth £6.2 billion. One third of each household bill goes to servicing those debts and paying dividends. Cut away that chaff and we can build a system fit for purpose once again.

If you are tired of water bosses like Nicola Shaw taking us for a ride and want to see a new direction for our water, consider coming to Olivia’s public meeting. More details, including the location and how to sign up, can be found at http://www.oliviablake.org.uk/

Minesh Parekh is a Labour and Co-operative Councillor in Crookes and Crosspool.