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A case for re-nationalising the Water Authorities ?

"CLOSING RESERVOIRS IN SOUTH EAST WHILE NOT DIVERTING WATER FROM SEVERN AS RAINFALL RUNS INTO SEA IS SERIOUS MISMANAGEMENT SAYS GMB

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee must call on Thames Water, the other private water companies, The Environment Agency and Ofwat to account for allowing parts of this nation to run short of water says GMB

GMB, the union for water workers, is asking MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee to call Thames Water and the regulatory bodies to account for the closure of 25 bulk water storage facilities in the South East before implementing plans to divert water from Severn. This leaves rainfall running off to the sea while the region is subject to drought orders.

Less than 1% of the UK rainfall is diverted to be collected and stored to be used for human purposes. See list of water storage facilities closed in notes to editors below. Maps are attached as pdfs.

GMB has previously complained that Thames Water has not developed the disused Severn Thames canal course to divert water into the region from water in the Severn running off to the sea. See table in notes to editors below for average water usage per day by area in 2005. GMB is updating this table. See also map of course of Severn Thames canal as pdf.

Gary Smith, GMB National Secretary for Water, said “The mission of a water undertaking is to deliver the water needed for human purposes and for industry. That requires proper direction and management. Both have been sadly missing in Britain for the past twenty years.

Storage and transfer are two of the main elements of water resource management: one to move water from times of plenty to times of shortage; the other to convey water from places where it is plentiful to areas where it is in short supply. The third basic element is treatment to regulate water quality.

It cannot be repeated often enough that there is no shortage of water in Britain. We divert only a small fraction of the throughput of our water cycle for human purposes. We use less than 1% of total UK rainfall and less than 10% in the South East.

The best guide to theory is practice. Closing 25 water storage facilities in the south east before diverting water into the region from the Severn has left the region short of water twice in the space of six years.

Water is a natural monopoly. Yet the recent White Paper looks to introduce “competition”, a nonsense policy to further mis-directing managers on top of privatisation. Since 1990 Thames Water has paid out £5 billion as dividends to shareholders, raised from households, that should have been used to divert water into South East and Eastern England.

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee must call Thames Water, the other private water companies, The Environment Agency and Ofwat to account for needlessly allowing parts of this nation to run short of water.”

End : Contact: Gary Smith, GMB National Secretary on 07710618 909 or Mick Ainsley, GMB London Region Organiser on 07974 250947 or GMB Press Office, Rose Conroy on 07974 251823 or Steve Pryle on 07921 289880"