steve williams

Almost 90% of England's water companies are still acting illegally, still dumping huge amounts of sewage into our environment. “People are sick of excuses,” screams Dame Angela Eagle. We've heard it all before and yet nothing, nothing changes. One interesting note "The UK is one of only two countries in the world where the provision of water is fully privatised. The other is Chile, where water privatisation was imposed in the 1980s by a military dictatorship." Hmm? 🤔 theguardian.com/business/202…

This is what we've come to. A retired couple had to spend £1m of their own money taking both the @EnvAgency and @NaturalEngland to the High Court simply to force both of these charlatans to do their job, safeguard one of our nation's most legally heavily protected bits of countryside. And the environment charities does what exactly? thetimes.com/uk/environment/…

Thames Water is due to run out of money (again) over the next few weeks. A year and a half ago it was given a £3 billion bailout now it's asking for another £2.4 billion. We really are being taken for mugs. theguardian.com/business/202…

"Minister who privatised Thames Water blames Ofwat for crisis." And guess who appoints the board members of Ofwat, the very people who set the priorities, dictate policy and strategy? Yep, that'll be the Secretary of State for Environment, ho hum. telegraph.co.uk/business/202…

"Southern Water fined £2.4m over multiple incidents of sewage pollution in Kent." That of course is on top of the £7.1 million they were fined back in July, the £90 million they were fined back in 2021, or the 107 environmental offences they've been found guilty of in the last 15 years. Really, what is the point? itv.com/news/meridian/2026-0…

"Key allies of PM issue warning as details emerge of his plan to give mayors powers to oversee water companies." I suspect I'm going to get very monotonous about all of this over coming weeks. To repeat the problem with the water industry is ownership, fix that you fix the issue. Everything else is irrelevant. theguardian.com/business/202…

"Just to make clear how dramatic these [E. coli] readings were, the level considered unsafe for bathing is 1,000 colony-forming units per 100ml. The group’s highest reading showed 370,000." Christchurch Harbour everyone, Christchurch Harbour. independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho…

"1 in 4 chance of ‘catastrophic’ water supply failure for 1m Britons." Yep, according to the govt's national risk register there is now 25% chance of a massive failure "resulting in the loss of piped drinking water and impact to wastewater services for over one million people”, adding that "residents would likely have to leave the area, and some may require evacuation. It is likely that repair of the infrastructure could take months". You have been warned. thetimes.com/uk/environment/…