How can England possibly be running out of water?

Post by swiftcoder » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 3:55 PM UTC

patanegra wrote: post #393

michaelt wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, if a water company is in good financial health, with low debt and lots of money to invest in infrastructure, it’s completely legal for private equity to buy the company, stop investing in infrastructure, take out loans until a third of customer bills go on interest payments, and take the loaned money as ‘management fees’. Then dump untreated sewerage in rivers and demand more money from bill payers, bec…

Can you show me which UK water companies are in such a situation? My provider is Thames Water. They are losing money.

Post by danans » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 3:56 PM UTC

qcnguy wrote: post #378

danans wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's not just water where the UK has a problem with this. Transport for London has also been forced to underprice its services for years by London's socialist mayor In the US we have a problem with fantastically underpricing public roads. We don't expect their books to break even, much less generate a profit. Meanwhile everyone asks why train systems are not profitable. > The US is a very right wing country. Yeah,…

I don't think Trump is anyone's idea of a textbook conservative, especially not economically. He's a former democrat with populist instincts. Such politicians are often popular. It's frequently said in the UK that the median British voter is socially conservative and economically liberal. It's true that the US subsidizes its road network. The effect is somewhat different though. If TfL doesn't get enough money in due…

Post by MichaelZuo » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 4:07 PM UTC

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #392

krona wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well sewage has to be dumped (especially in storm conditions), and the water companies have licences to do so. However Thames was found to be in breach of the license, so were fined. Many people claim these things happen because "shareholders" however it was completely widespread practice to dump sewage before privatisation and the system is literally designed to do so. This doesn't make it OK, however.

Sewage doesn't have to be dumped. Simply separate your black water and grey water. Storm drains can go to rivers (if the rivers have capacity – if not, it's sometimes easier to give the river more capacity than to build more sewers), and the amount of water in sewage pipes will be independent of the amount of rain. Sure, the sewers might not currently be designed that way, but that can be changed. (It's a logistical…

Post by scubbo » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 4:07 PM UTC

IAmBroom wrote: post #359

alt227 wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we did this to ourselves I would argue that a small minority of the human race did this to the rest. > the lack of foresight Everybody on the planet is well aware of what is happening and why. Its not lack of foresight, it is pure ignorance and apathy of those who are making money off the backs of these tragedies.

> > we did this to ourselves > I would argue that a small minority of the human race did this to the rest Yes, just the people that use fossil fuels to drive, heat their homes, power their electrical lines, and so forth. /s You can't dodge responsibility by pushing the blame upwards on everything. Are you posting these comments from a computer powered by solar panels?

Post by snarf21 » Tue, Sep 09, 2025, 4:10 PM UTC

hermitcrab wrote: post #323

Thatcher's conservative government sold off all the UK's family silver in the 80s. Now we are held to ransom the by the big companies that own these monopolies. It was a short-sighted act with predictably awful consequences and they should never be forgiven for it.