UK WATER SCANDAL PROFITS BEFORE PURITY.

Water companies in England and Wales have become a huge political headache for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government amid a public outcry over the release of sewage into rivers and seas, and rising bills, which have raised questions over the Conservatives’ privatisation of the sector in 1989. Clean water campaign groups accuse the water companies of failing to invest in infrastructure. Public anger has been further stoked by the payment of dividends to investors and large salaries and bonuses to water industry executives. Thames Water, (the first of seemingly many to come) which counts Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, the UK’s Universities Superannuation Scheme and China Investment Corp as shareholders, said it was working to secure the extra funds needed to support its turnaround. In a sign of the pressure the company is under, Chief Executive Sarah Bentley stepped down with immediate effect on Tuesday after two years trying to “revive” its fortunes. The corpse was already in the latter stages of decay and the feeling of rats and sinking ship comes to mind, no doubt the full redundancy and pension payment was agreed first. She was replaced by two co-chief executives, Chief Finance Officer Alastair Cochran and former Ofwat boss Cathryn Ross, who has been at Thames Water since 2021. The mounting pressure at the company could be seen weighing on its debts, with Refinitiv data showing that one Thames Water bond maturing in 2026 was now trading in distressed territory. The water companies have since privatisation used it as a cash cow with several asset strippers coming in raping the benefits and then selling off to the next “investors” all under the full glare of the government. Now the environment is suffering enormous damage the politicians finally decide action needs to be taken, the saying “gate and horses” comes to mind.