Adults should drink 2 - 2.5 litres of water a day. Afraid I don't, but I do probably drink that much tea, with a coffee thrown in first thing. On the other hand approximately 2.2 billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water. 115 million people rely on surface water. 3.5 billion people lack safely managed sanitation, and 419 million practice open defecation.
No river in England is free from pollution, with only 14% of England's rivers in good ecological health, and 83% show high levels of sewage and agricultural pollution. The Cunliffe Review, published in June this year, exposes just how bad things are in England & Wales & just how Ofwat, the Environment Agency, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, Natural England and Natural Resources Wales have let us all down, 36 years after privatisation by the conservatives under Mrs Thatcher. A privatised system needs strong regulators, but that hasn't happened, not just in the water industry. Cunliffe makes 88 recommendations. That shows just how bad things have been allowed to get.
We have made the mistake of taking plentiful clean water for granted. We waste huge amounts, as do the water companies in leaks, because the infrastructure hasn't been maintained properly. But in comparison to much of the world we are so lucky. We have allowed our rivers, lakes & seas to be polluted to the point where it is unsafe to swim in them & some are effectively dead.
We have all taken our eye off the ball, but the regulators & the politicians are culpable. What the hell have they been doing for 36 years? Basically they have allowed privatisation to run down what was a profitable, reasonably well run, industry to drain away vital income into the pockets of hugely well paid senior managers & shareholders. I actually think it is criminal.
Now the public will have to pay. Again.
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