Calls to cut bonuses for UK water bosses until reservoirs built and leaks fixed
Water company bosses should be stripped of their multimillion pound bonuses until they fix leaks and build reservoirs, politicians and campaigners have said as the country is gripped by drought.
The current drought, in which parts of England are the driest they have been since records began after five consecutive months of below average rainfall, have led to homes running out of water, rivers turning dry and farmers facing crop failures, causing many to be outraged at the companies that have failed to invest in reservoirs, fix leaks and stop sewage pollution from their pipes.
The bosses of England’s water companies have been criticised for banking £58m in pay and benefits over the last five years. Since privatisation, shareholders have been paid £72bn in dividends. The cash came from big debts, with companies borrowing £56bn, and big bills, with prices rising 40%.
Stuart Singleton-White, head of campaigns at the Angling Trust, said: “The profits being made by water companies, who are in effect private monopolies, the dividend payments to shareholders, the inflated salaries and bonuses to the CEOs, and the debts that have been run up by these companies, mostly to support dividends and inflated salaries, rather than finance investment, is a clear sign this is a broken market.”
He pointed out that no new reservoirs have been built in England since water companies were privatised, and that years of underinvestment had led to “unacceptable levels of leaks”. Water companies currently leak around a quarter of their supply through old pipes, with 2,954m litres a day leaked last year.
“[W]hen the crisis hit, our water system was not ready”, Singleton-White said, blaming “the greed of the water companies, the weakness of the
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