| Southern Water 08:46 - Nov 11 with 552 views | DJR |
I have the misfortune to live in an area served by Southern Water.
Whilst it don't get the publicity that Thames Water does, it is highly indebted to private equity, has the highest bills in the country, and has an appalling environmental record given a complete lack of proper investment. This is something I know to my cost having been affected by an overflowing sewer manhole caused by the company no longer cleaning sewers. When it happened, I was told that it was cheaper for the company to clean up after the event which is not great for those affected by the resulting flooding.
The latest fiasco relates to tonnes and tonnes of plastic pellets, news of which emerged a day or so. It now emerges that Southern Water itself was responsible for the pellets.
And of course, those cleared from beaches will represent a tiny fraction of the overall pollution.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/nov/10/southern-water-spill-plastic [Post edited 11 Nov 9:01]
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| Southern Water on 09:08 - Nov 11 with 485 views | flettonblue |
I read something earlier that said it's been ongoing for 2 weeks loosing all those beads. They ve been under managing, maintaining,and not renewing, assets within their control for so long now (sweating assets as you've had the misfortune to see) that they re now in such a state that it's going to the take decades to recover from. All whilst taking bill payers money and asking for more every 5 years. I think there was a campaign in Southerns area to not pay water bills,not sure if that's still ongoing? All part of the broken regulatory cycle in my opinion, as the Cunliffe review belatedly published. Can't see much changing until a new regulator and approach begins,but that's a few years away yet as needs acts of parliament etc I think. Just feels like it's all in a stasis until then. I agree it's mostly Thames being the poster boys for awful business decisions and performance in the sector. Others I don't think are that far behind around the country. Water pollution mostly gets the headlines, but if companies can't operate sewage treatment properly then I don't think it will be long before we see new headlines about other parts of their business being poorly run,why would they be any different? If we have a dry winter then we are in a right pickle next summer and that will raise questions about how they abstract water,manage water,leakage etc that haven't made to much noise in the news yet. |  | | |
| Southern Water on 09:32 - Nov 11 with 436 views | Guthrum |
While the obvious answer seems to be taking things into public ownership, the taxpayer doesn't actually want to pay for things either*, so it will still all be about cutting costs and minimising investment.
* See: The fuss about potential Income Tax rises in the upcoming budget. |  |
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| Southern Water on 09:39 - Nov 11 with 411 views | Swansea_Blue |
| Southern Water on 09:08 - Nov 11 by flettonblue |
I read something earlier that said it's been ongoing for 2 weeks loosing all those beads. They ve been under managing, maintaining,and not renewing, assets within their control for so long now (sweating assets as you've had the misfortune to see) that they re now in such a state that it's going to the take decades to recover from. All whilst taking bill payers money and asking for more every 5 years. I think there was a campaign in Southerns area to not pay water bills,not sure if that's still ongoing? All part of the broken regulatory cycle in my opinion, as the Cunliffe review belatedly published. Can't see much changing until a new regulator and approach begins,but that's a few years away yet as needs acts of parliament etc I think. Just feels like it's all in a stasis until then. I agree it's mostly Thames being the poster boys for awful business decisions and performance in the sector. Others I don't think are that far behind around the country. Water pollution mostly gets the headlines, but if companies can't operate sewage treatment properly then I don't think it will be long before we see new headlines about other parts of their business being poorly run,why would they be any different? If we have a dry winter then we are in a right pickle next summer and that will raise questions about how they abstract water,manage water,leakage etc that haven't made to much noise in the news yet. |
I’m starting to see warnings of a potentially bad year next year, although they’re few and far between. Although we did have a thread on here the other day talking about it which shows that there’s at least some public interest. We’re in the lap of the gods as to whether we have the winter is wet (more sewage in the rivers/sea) or dry (emptying reservoirs). What a choice!
There’s an inevitability about more bad news down the tracks given the lack of investment and apparent lack of resilience in the system. It’s all very fragmented as well even though all companies are facing the same problems. We desperately need the increased integration talked about in the Cunliffe review, but I haven’t read much about that review’s findings. We’re good at reviews and not so good at implementing findings, so we’ll see but I remain pessimistic. |  |
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| Southern Water on 10:25 - Nov 11 with 337 views | DJR |
| Southern Water on 09:08 - Nov 11 by flettonblue |
I read something earlier that said it's been ongoing for 2 weeks loosing all those beads. They ve been under managing, maintaining,and not renewing, assets within their control for so long now (sweating assets as you've had the misfortune to see) that they re now in such a state that it's going to the take decades to recover from. All whilst taking bill payers money and asking for more every 5 years. I think there was a campaign in Southerns area to not pay water bills,not sure if that's still ongoing? All part of the broken regulatory cycle in my opinion, as the Cunliffe review belatedly published. Can't see much changing until a new regulator and approach begins,but that's a few years away yet as needs acts of parliament etc I think. Just feels like it's all in a stasis until then. I agree it's mostly Thames being the poster boys for awful business decisions and performance in the sector. Others I don't think are that far behind around the country. Water pollution mostly gets the headlines, but if companies can't operate sewage treatment properly then I don't think it will be long before we see new headlines about other parts of their business being poorly run,why would they be any different? If we have a dry winter then we are in a right pickle next summer and that will raise questions about how they abstract water,manage water,leakage etc that haven't made to much noise in the news yet. |
Around the same time its credit rating was downgraded to junk status, Ofwat announced a 47% increase in its charges, the highest in the country.
https://www.water.org.uk/annual-average-bill-changes-2025-2026
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj9nrjpjk8jo https://www.water.org.uk/annual-average-bill-changes-2025-2026
Privatisation has been a disaster but the whole system is in such a state that nationalisation might not improve things at a time of huge government borrowing. I suppose it's a bit like Humpty Dumpty.
Interestingly, Steve Reed. when Environment Secretary, tried to make out on several occasions that the publicly-owned water system in Scotland was worse than that in England and Wales.
That turned out to be a a rather dodgy claim according to the Statistics Authority.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/steve-reed-snp-scottish-uk-stati | | | |
| Southern Water on 10:29 - Nov 11 with 323 views | DarkBrandon |
Bearing in mind how much rain falls in Scotland and how many freshwater lakes they have up there (not to mention the ease with which they can build reservoirs/dams) they'd struggle to do worse than we do down here. |  | | |
| Southern Water on 10:33 - Nov 11 with 301 views | Churchman |
| Southern Water on 09:39 - Nov 11 by Swansea_Blue |
I’m starting to see warnings of a potentially bad year next year, although they’re few and far between. Although we did have a thread on here the other day talking about it which shows that there’s at least some public interest. We’re in the lap of the gods as to whether we have the winter is wet (more sewage in the rivers/sea) or dry (emptying reservoirs). What a choice!
There’s an inevitability about more bad news down the tracks given the lack of investment and apparent lack of resilience in the system. It’s all very fragmented as well even though all companies are facing the same problems. We desperately need the increased integration talked about in the Cunliffe review, but I haven’t read much about that review’s findings. We’re good at reviews and not so good at implementing findings, so we’ll see but I remain pessimistic. |
Reviews exist to be ignored or more often just kicked down the road. Nice cheap solution which makes out useless self serving politicians look as if they are doing something.
The water provision in this country is a disgrace. If a dry country like Portugal has unlimited water supplies, there is no reason why a green one like this shouldn’t. Before privatisation not a penny was owed. Since? The shareholders have done magnificently at the expense of you, me and everyone who lives in this country. People chunter on about the environment and lumping things like ULEZ zones on the population ‘for kidz lungs’, yet the basics such as rivers, coasts, the water we drink and the sewage we dispose of is basically ignored.
Ramp up the fines and bankrupt these companies and buy back the infrastructure for a pound a company. If Johnny Taxpayer doesn’t spend a penny on it that will be no worse than what these thieves are spending while they destroy this country. Public ownership? The clue is in the name. It is there for the public, not some mush in Abu Dhabi laughing all the way to the bank.
This really isn’t difficult.
As for predicting weather far ahead, i will believe it when I see it. I suspect it’s just PR to rip people off further. [Post edited 11 Nov 10:44]
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