{"id":15895,"date":"2018-08-08T14:29:45","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T13:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=15895"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:19","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:19","slug":"unite-supports-water-campaign-public-ownership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=15895","title":{"rendered":"End ‘fountain for profit’ call"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Water may seem as natural and \u00e2\u20ac\u0098free\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 a resource as they come \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it falls from the sky after all, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s essential to all forms of life. But in the UK and increasingly around the world, water has become big business.<\/p>\n

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Bosses of the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nine privatised water companies together took home nearly \u00c2\u014160m in salary, bonuses, pensions and other benefits over the last five years, recent research has shown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Over the same five-year time period, shareholders in the same nine water companies trousered \u00c2\u01416.5bn in dividends and interest payments; last year, these shareholders got a \u00c2\u01411.5bn windfall.<\/p>\n

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While shareholders are swimming in cash, ordinary families are hit by ever increasing household bills \u00e2\u20ac\u201c customers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 water bills alone have ballooned by 40 per cent above the rate of inflation since 1989, when water was first privatised.<\/p>\n

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But skyrocketing bills haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t brought with them exemplary customer service \u00e2\u20ac\u201c in fact much the opposite. Britons are faced with a deteriorating water system creaking \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and very literally leaking \u00e2\u20ac\u201cfrom underinvestment.<\/p>\n

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Amid this summer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s worst heatwave in decades, United Utilities threatened to impose a hosepipe ban earlier this month<\/a> because of the hot and dry weather. This\u00c2\u00a0is the same company that wastes 400m liters of water every day<\/em> because of leaky pipes, but nonetheless last week awarded its shareholders \u00c2\u0141181m in dividends, the largest pay-out in a decade.<\/p>\n

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According to Ofwat<\/a>, the water regulator, water companies failing to prepare for last winter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cold snap left 200,000 people without water for at least four hours, and a \u00c2\u00a0further 60,000 people experienced disruption for at least 12 hours, with some experiencing even longer disruptions.<\/p>\n

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Public support for nationalisation<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no doubt that the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s water system is broken, and the vast majority of the public believe so too. In a landmark poll last year<\/a>, 83 per cent of respondents said they thought water should be brought back into public ownership.<\/p>\n

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The Labour Party agrees and has put nationalisation of public goods such as water and railways<\/a> at the heart of their manifesto. Yet despite widespread public support of renationalisation, Tories and the media have panned such policies, claiming they would be too expensive.<\/p>\n

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But a new video by campaign group \u00e2\u20ac\u0098We Own It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/a> highlights why, exactly, the naysayers are wrong.<\/p>\n

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Parliament can decide how much to compensate shareholders when we take our water into public ownership. How much do you think we should pay?
\n(Watch the full video here: https:\/\/t.co\/6DHxUU8cDo<\/a>)#SplashMob<\/a> #OwnOurWater<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/y3uV6qaduK<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u201d We Own It (@We_OwnIt) August 4, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n