General Discussion
Should water be in the control of private enterprise? They make huge profits for their shareholders, but would it not be better to plough those profits back into the public purse?
There was a very good reason why water was privatized and profit was the driving force.
https://www.ft.com/content/90c0f8e8-17fd-11e8-9e9c-25c814761640
Returning the UK's privatised services to the public
This makes interesting reading. It clearly shows bills would be reduced if shareholder profits were removed. Also many countries will not privatise utilities because they are a human need. As you can see in our country once privatised the Government cannot control prices and this is now leading to people being driven further into fuel and water poverty with no intervention in sight. Water should be in public ownership, as for gas and electric at least there is a lot more competition in the market to keep prices lower, so reducing the big six's monopoly on the market. We are also at the mercy of foreign companies for many utilities, which is also concerning, look at Russia's potential hold over Germany in relation to gas! https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/11/germany-and-russia-gas-links-trump-questions-europe-nord-stream2. Once you are beholding to an external force then you are at their mercy as to price rises or if they chose to reduce or cut capacity if there was a shortage and their country market needed the limited supply.
Water, if public control took over once again, could be controoled in a more public friendly way. If the water companies that are now, were to link up the pipe lines, then there should not be a shortage in one particular place. why will they not do that? Some now have more leaks than others and don.t really give a damn about rectifying it. There should be legislation in place to control the amount of water wasted but there isn.t for the companies (as far as I know) but there is legislation in place to fine the consumer if THEY don't rectify a leak that is under thier control. If you walk around Dawlish in the dead of night, you will often see officials checking for water leaks both for the consumer and thier own pipe lines. Have you ever noticed that the pressure of water goes up at night which can and do contribute to leaks. But they can be controlled.