Protestors gather outside water company headquarters

Protesters gathered outside the headquarters of several utility firms – including Southern Water – on Saturday (6 July) to call for them to be brought back into public hands.

The demonstrations were organised by the campaign group We Own It to mark the 30^th anniversary of the privatisation of the water industry by the-then prime minister, Margaret Thatcher.

According to local newspaper reports, a group of around 20 to 30 people demonstrated outside Southern Water’s headquarters, near Worthing in West Sussex.

Smaller demonstrations were also held outside the offices of South West Water in Exeter, Thames Water in Reading and Severn Trent in Coventry.

The protests also come after Southern Water agreed to pay out a record £126 million for “deliberately misreporting” its operation performance at sewerage treatment sites could still be prosecuted by the Environment Agency.

“We’ve had 30 years of rising bills, shareholders and chief executive officer’s pocketing millions, and private companies failing to fix leaks in the system,” said We Own It campaigns officer, Ellen Lees.

“The public are absolutely clear,” added Lees. “Eighty-three per cent of us want to see water in public ownership. Now we’re speaking out and saying time’s up for private water companies that have ripped us off, polluted our rivers and allowed cash for flow straight from our bills into their shareholders’ bank accounts. Now we’re saying it’s time for public ownership.”

The We Own It campaign is due to launch its crowdfunded manifesto for what a publicly-owned water sector could look like on Wednesday (10 July) which will be entitled The People’s Plan.

A spokesman for the trade body Water UK commented: “Privatisation of the water and sewerage industry has achieved a great deal over the last 30 years – more investment, a healthier environment, better water quality and improved service to customers.

“Leakage has been cut by a third since the 90s, and bills have stayed around the same in real terms as they were 20 years ago. Customers are now five times less likely to suffer from supply interruptions, eight times less likely to suffer from sewer flooding, and 100 times less likely to have low water pressure than they were when the industry was in government hands.

“Nationalisation would risk turning back the clock to the days when service and quality failures were far more common, the environment was suffering as a result, and cash-strapped governments wouldn’t pay for the improvements needed,” added the spokesman.