Should we nationalise water companies in the UK?

With Channel 4’s shocking factual drama Dirty Business laying bare the sewage scandal, a growing number of people are asking how we fix a water system that’s clearly broken. One of the biggest questions now on the table is whether the UK should nationalise its water companies. Here’s what our Sewage Pollution Policy team has to say.

What’s wrong with the privatised water industry?

SAS firmly believes that the current privatised water system is fundamentally broken and must end. Private companies cannot and will not prioritise public health, or the environment over profit. We strongly believe water companies should operate to deliver primarily for public and environmental benefit, not their current primary objective of profit. This is because we do not believe that when operating this way, water companies will prioritise investing in ending sewage pollution or put public or environmental health first.

How can we fix this broken system?

There are many ways this could be reversed through the restructuring of water companies. This could take the form of:

• Publicly owned mutual or cooperatives owned by customers and workers,  
• Nationalised Water Companies owned and ran by the government like in Northern Ireland,
• Nationalised Water Companies owned by the public but ran as commercial business like Scottish Water
• Municipal Water Companies owned and run by local authorities at a regional level or 
• Other forms of not-for-profit companies like public benefit and community interest companies designed to serve people and the planet can also give control to the public without renationalising the water industry. 
• Or it could be a temporary measure through Special Administration Powers (SAR). We do support the use of Special Administration for failing water companies like Thames Water. Through Special Administration government would in effect take temporary control of water companies so that they can be restructured into a water company that works for public and environmental benefit.

Crucially, no option of public ownership should be off the table. 

For us, the critical issue is that water companies must be managed to deliver for people and planet. We stand firm that unless companies are shaped around this, they will continue to be driven into the ground by shareholders delivering on alternative motives. 

Why is water industry reform important now?

Over the past 5 years, there has been a growing understanding of the extent to which water companies are failing. Following their election in 2024, the UK Government promised to “reform the water industry” admitting it was a “broken system”. Since then, we have been campaigning for the government to reshape the industry to people and the environment before profit through a change in ownership model.

The Government then initiated a Commission into the Water Industry promising to get the bottom of the problems and solutions it needed to investigate for it’s root and branch reform. We submitted evidence to the commission, and called for it to seriously consider alterative ownership models. We were told that renationalisation was off the cards but other options including public benefit companies, mutuals and alternative sources of investment would be considered.

However, when the commission was published, it became clear that this was never on the table. We now face up to the issue that despite promising “root and branch reform of the water industry” the Governments “Vision for Water” will do nothing of the sort and with their ‘Water Reform Bill’ expected within the next year, we are urging the Government to take a firmer grasp of the industry.

That is why we are calling on the UK Government to step in and restructure England’s water companies so that the decisions about how companies are run and water is used are taken by the public and for the public. You can support this by adding your name to our petition.

Sign the petition

Will a change in ownership fix the water system?

Water companies are currently operating as privatised monopolies. Their primary motive is to make profit and therefore, they will never operate primarily for environmental and public good. Water companies cannot be regulated to deliver for the public if their key function is to extract profit. A change in ownership won’t in of itself end sewage pollution, but with water under democratic control, accountable to the people, we – bill payers, water users, coastal and inland communities alike – will have far greater tools at our disposal to guide the priorities of the industry. Water is not and should never be treated as a commodity. It’s a basic human right. Therefore, in the interest of the health of people and planet, it must be owned and managed for the public good.  

Other countries have done it, so why cants we? In France, a number of cities have brought water back into public ownership. In Paris water came back into public ownership in 2011. The publicly owned company L’Eau de Paris has cleaned up the water and reduced bills at the same time. This allowed significant programmes of investment and improvement such as that for cleaning up the Seine ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Imagine the UK holding swimming events in the Thames in 10 years time. 

Why isn’t water nationalisation working in Scotland?

Our friends in Scotland have a nationalised water system. However, the situation with the state-owned Scottish Water is no better than England, when it comes to sewage pollution. There has been a chronic failure to monitor and publish the true extent of sewage pollution affecting Scotland and from the sewage discharges that are reported, numbers are far too high. This comes down to a failure by ministers and authorities to prioritise the protection of public health – for which they must be held accountable. It does not, however, indicate that public ownership inevitably leads to the kinds of outcomes seen in Scotland.  

What should happen next?

Here’s what we are calling for:

1. Before bringing forward the proposed Water Bill, the Government must carry out a thorough review all water company ownership models to set out the long-term future of the industry. No option, including long-term public ownership, should be off the table.
2. The Government must end the current privatised water industry.
3. The Government must take back control of water companies, and restructure them, removing the profit motive, to ensure they operate for people and the environment.
4. In the meantime, the government MUST enforce the existing laws fully, prosecute criminal activity for illegal pollution; and ensure fines are paid immediately. 

If you want to see what we’ve outlined above, sign our petition to help crank up the pressure on the government to end the profit-driven sewage scandal. It’s time to take back control of the water industry and put people before payouts.

Sign the petition