But I bet there was profit for the shareholders.
Privatised water, what could go wrong?
this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2026
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That how you get this guy
I see an interesting parallel to the nationalisation of UK coal back in the day. Basically, the collieries prior to nationalisation were critically mismanaged. So, the government bought them off the private hands. However, the valuation was too high for an outright purchase, so the Government bought the infrastructure in installments. This meant that as an award to the previous owners for severe mismanagement they got regular income without having to do anything to get it.
I think there's a lesson in there, some where.
And then, with the industry under national control, they arrange for it to be critically mismanaged again to use it as justification for the private sector to buy it back so they can "fix it". However, this time they have to sell it cheap, because it's critically mismanaged and the private sector won't buy an apparently failing business otherwise.
The real conspiracy is that it's always the same groups looking to get in and "mismanage" the business, for the benefit of extracting wealth.
Just not one we’d like to be learned
yeah, don't buy them, just take them
honestly, if the end result is public ownership, I don't particularly care how it is achieved. With the number of infrastructural issues and the catastrophic loss of potable water as a result, any means is appropriate. Money is constructable, life is finite.
Yeah, let the EU run things instead of local fuckwits.
I think they mean “the REST of the country is about to find out”, because as a Thames water customer it’s already happened to me a several times.
You pay money to drink from the thames??
We might as well.
Thames Water serves the area surrounding the river Thames from Kent, through London, Thames Valley to Wiltshire in the West and areas North and South of this line.
They produce 2.5Giga Litres (2,500,000,000) of drinking water per day.
They are probably the worst of the privatised water companies with unresolved supply problems, illegal sewage discharges and incurring huge debt in paying shareholder dividends.
thames water don't be the worst challenge
Weird how chronically underfunding a critical service causes issues
(Sorry to hear about this comrades, I hope things get turned around)
Oh great, now I have to start hoarding water, too.
I guess I would start using the 300L of rainwater storage I have, it isn't ideal and would need to be best to boil before drinking but should be fine otherwise. Wash from a bucket of warm water with a flannel or sponge.
Now is pretty much the best time of year to have your water supply fucked as so much of it falls from the sky. In summer I would probably have to start looking at taking bottles to a river.