Feeling It 'In Our Thames Waters'

Thames Water is the largest of England's privatised water companies. For decades, this entity has accumulated debts, directing much of its monopoly income to shareholder dividends and CEO bonuses/'golden hellos'. Dealing with leaks and infrastructure upgrades should have been its major priorities. The ability of Thames Water to now keep London's taps flowing, is reported to be 'on a knife edge'. The company is said to urgently need £23bn for 'repairs', having failed to tackle serious safety concerns or to upgrade its vital IT services. Floods, explosions and asbestos removals all need to be dealt with (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/nov/17/thames-water-supply-knife-edge-23bn-repairs-needed). What's the point of a water company, that doesn't do its job? For much too long, England's privatised water companies were treated as 'cash cows'. Water companies have even, in some cases, deliberately polluted lakes and rivers to boost their profits. Although,'bailing out' Thames Water by its users, shouldn't be an option, folk can't live without clean, potable water.