Opinion: The case for change in the water industry

By Donna Rowe-Merriman, UNISON national secretary for water

World Water Day takes place on 22 March every year and serves as a reminder that water is a human right and a public good.

At the same time it’s a reminder, especially now, that to successfully meet the challenges we face to ensure the safe, accessible, and environmentally sustainable management of water, we need consistent and sustained action.

In the context of the ongoing crisis in the water industry, World Water Day is an opportunity for UNISON to highlight how we are redoubling our efforts to bring about the change needed to create a water system that is run in the interests of the public, kind to the environment, and fair to its workers.

Water is a major environmental issue, with pollution incidents increasing year-on-year. Some polling indicates that 80% of the public consider water pollution as one of their most significant concerns.

The crisis in the water industry

Public confidence in the water industry has collapsed. There is a lack of infrastructure investment yet bills have risen by 40% in real terms since 1989. There is significant environmental damage including millions of hours of sewage overspills every year and there isn’t effective regulation. A profit-driven ownership model has extracted over £80bn in dividends since privatisation while loading the industry with unsustainable levels of financial debt.

For all these reasons, the water industry model is completely untenable and major change is needed.

As the leading union in both the water industry and in the Environment Agency, it is our responsibility to act in the interests of workers across these sectors.

Reports of harassment directed at these workers from members of the public, which have included physical attacks, are unacceptable and UNISON condemns this in the strongest possible terms.

The decisions made by governments, asset management companies and senior executives that have led to the current crisis are not the fault of these workers, and the blame does not lie with them. The only sustainable solution is to fundamentally change how the water industry operates, how it is managed, and how it is held to account.

The case for change

UNISON is making a key contribution to the important debate on the future of the water industry by partnering with the Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) at the University of Greenwich to produce two important pieces of research.

The first is an update of UNISON’s landmark report Clean Water: A Case for Public Ownership, which argues for a publicly-owned water industry in England and sets out how this can be achieved. This report will be updated to include new data and take stock of the ongoing crisis in the water industry that has escalated since the report was first published.

The second is a new piece of research that examines the approach of successive UK governments of pursuing economic growth through cutting regulation and reducing the ability of regulators, including those working in environmental protection, to maintain an effective oversight of the water industry.

The new report will examine the prevailing view in government on the relationship between environmental regulation and economic growth, and what this has meant for the water industry and its impacts on the natural environment.

It will also explore an alternative approach, where a well-resourced environmental protection sector alongside a publicly owned water industry can work together to create an industry that is good for the environment, for customers, and workers – at the same time as creating many new jobs across multiple sectors.

UNISON will launch both reports at its annual delegate conference in Brighton in June.