There are many reasons that a company might switch water supplier, ranging from cost to the standard of service. But pollution can be a significant reason.
There are both practical and ethical reasons for this. On the ethical level, some company loaders and shareholders may have concerns about their firm continuing to use the services of a provider with a poor environmental record, while campaigning activists may also pick up on this fact.
Since your firm should be seen to be acting rather than forced into it by being placed under the pressure of poor publicity, this may be a significant issue for any company with a significant public profile.
A second issue may be that there are practical issues for some for whom poor local natural water quality could be an issue. For instance, a golf club may be a big water user and might get it clean enough, but if the supplier is dumping waste in a nearby river and the smell is drifting across the course, that could put people off playing.
The issue was big enough to be a frequent discussion topic in the general election campaign and various parties proposed solutions to the problem, including Labour, who as the new government now has the opportunity to do something significant about it.
Private Member’s Bill Makes Radical Proposals
Despite this, Labour backbencher Clive Lewis has devised his own proposal, which he offered up in a Private Member’s Bill. Having been chosen in a ballot, his bill, which proposes to create a national commission to handle a range of issues – from pollution by companies to the effects of climate change – will get debated in Parliament.
Mr Lewis, the MP for Norwich South, told the BBC: “Water is a critical natural resource and this bill will help, I think, educate the public about the scale of the challenge.”
Another part of the bill calls for a citizens’ assembly, which would closely examine the benefits of different ownership models.
Discussing this, he remarked: “I’m hopeful that this can have a positive impact on the government,” describing the debate he would like to see as going “beyond just privatisation versus nationalisation”, arguing that a new ownership model is needed to tackle climate change issues.
This particular concern is, the MP noted when he launched the bill, regarded by experts at the University of East Anglia as being something the region is more vulnerable to than anywhere else in England, due to issues like a drier climate and rising sea levels.
He envisaged “a water system that works, that’s clean, that people can swim in – and where private corporations aren’t able to extract billions of pounds from our infrastructure, which doesn’t benefit us.” Anglian Water has been one such corporation that has received much criticism from Mr Lewis for its shortcomings, for which it has received heavy fines.
Why Starmer May Not Back The Bill
These comments do highlight one problem Mr Lewis faces. As someone on the left of the party more aligned with former leader Jeremy Corbyn than Sir Kier Starmer, he is evidently trying to steer government policy in a direction that his wing of the party might be more supportive of, going much further than anything in the manifesto.
Indeed, to some, the description of what Mr Lewis wants to see might be regarded as a call for public ownership in all but name, which would be a clear attempt to shift the government’s position. This matters, because without the government consenting to allow parliamentary time, private member’s bills never get very far.
Although that could generate significant debate in the Labour Party both in the Commons and the country at large, what may be most important is how business customers of these ‘private corporations’ respond to their failings when alternative suppliers are available. By voting with their feet, such firms may help achieve much of what legislation would aim to do.
Windermere Highlights Ongoing Concerns
The fact that there is still a problem that needs addressing has been highlighted by further recent incidents. For instance, the BBC recently reported that United Utilities had dumped millions of litres of raw sewage into Windermere, England’s largest lake, over a three-year period from 2021 and 2023.
Incidents of this kind might be cited as prime examples of where businesses are harmed by local water failings; any firm involved in the tourism sector in any way in that part of the Lake District may be harmed if the pollution in the lake – which has been notorious for its algae in recent years – puts potential visitors off coming.
Clive Lewis may do much to stimulate debate on the future of water management, but it is commercial customers who might strike the biggest blows against failing suppliers.
