Dirty Business- The Water Companies are profiteering lying bastards

[Ihatetomatoes]

Dirty Business

Just watched it.

Raw sewage onto our beaches and into rivers.

A child died. That poor child, an awful death.
Children and adults ill.
Suicide
Lies
Profits
Misrepresentation of facts.
Overpaid executives.

Throughly disgusting. Executives that nake these decisions should be prosecuted. Shameful. How do they live with themselves profiteering like that.

I just finished watching it. It made me so angry, in a righteous indignation way.
Those poor people 😔
F Thatcher, f Cameron, f Truss, f rampant capitalism and the billionaires and chief execs.
The only party with a clear policy to re-nationalise water and other services is The Green Party I think? It's been their policy for years. I know much of Mumsnet dismisses The Green Party because of the trans issue. But, it's just one issue. On so many other issues, they're the only sane and humane option now. Privatisation has failed, and has caused misery and loss of innocent life.
Time for a revolution.

I’m hoping that this will get to 10,000 signatures tonight… we really want to get it to 100,000.

Nationalise water companies to make water a non profit publicly owned asset

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/757426

Think it will be by tomorrow if not tonight. I keep refreshing the page.

10,000 reached!

10112 signatures and counting!

@TreesandGreen Going forward. Money is needed. £billions of it. No one has it. Not the Greens or anyone. It means we borrow it. We are maxed out borrowing. It really is a big problem and water companies are not making money. They are worth next to nothing. However the work they need to do is huge with a huge cost attached.

The Water Companies are worth nothing because they’ve been asset stripped and profits distributed to shareholders and in bonuses.

Yes they are total cunts and should be arrested!

DH got giardia from our local beach. This was before we all discovered what the water companies were doing. It was dreadful for him, though he wasn’t as ill as he could have been, but it’s very catching and it was a week or so before he got a do, so he had to tell everyone he’d had contact with to go and get themselves tested too. He felt a bit like you would if you had to go back to erstwhile sexual partners and tell them you’ve got syphilis.

what I want to know is why the shareholders who have profited so hugely from us being overcharged and underserved, why do they not have to foot a bit of the bill for sorting out the infrastructure? Obvisouly the higher managers who’ve been raking it in should repay quite a lot, but I think the larger shareholders bear some responsibility too and should also be held to account.

I remember a relative of one was a shareholder at Lloyds who’d underwritten a ship which went down. He had to scrabble around to find a load of money to pay his share of the insurance, all the shareholders did.

(As you had to invest no less than 100,000 quid to be a Lloyd’s shareholder at the time, I didn’t actually have much sympathy for him. If you’ve got that much dosh to spare that you can just invest it…..)

I just watched this and am also absolutely fuming. The water companies need to be forced to pay for the overdue repairs and to compensate the victims, while this is is overseen back under public ownership. It is not acceptable to leave the burden of debt and repair to the public that they've lied, cheated and stolen from.

The current situation must be impacting our economy in other ways… tourism and leisure industries and the NHS for starters.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1HobpebAQz/?mibextid=wwXIfr

A demonstration today in the constituency of the environment secretary. And another petition…

Organised by We Own It.

https://weownit.org.uk/public-ownership/water

Even the Americans thought privatising water (a basic human right) was a step too far. The English have been swindled by their own governments.

Sadly, the timing of the screening of this has meant that Epstein and now Iran has taken priority with our media.

I watched it and was appalled. I was brought up in the South West Water area and swam in the sea most days of the summer growing up. I don’t ever remember issues with sewage but the beaches were always covered in oil from tankers.

I would definitely think twice before swimming in the sea now and am fearful as to how this programme will affect tourism in the area.

I helped on a geography trip a couple of years ago, the kids were measuring flow etc. We were given strict instructions not to touch the water and had loads of hand sanitiser around. The previous year, we'd been in the water in wellies.
I still got very ill and vomited so much I passed out.

Forgive me if I'm being totally ignorant, but I don't understand this, as apparently the shareholders have made billions in profit? So, surely that could be in public hands instead, and reinvested to improve infrastructure?
I don't understand capitalism at all. Clean water is a human right. It's also a human right to be able to visit nature and waterways without getting sick as a result. Surely nobody should profit financially from water? I feel the same about housing. Human beings deserve clean water and safe shelter, simply by virtue of being human.

what I want to know is why the shareholders who have profited so hugely from us being overcharged and underserved, why do they not have to foot a bit of the bill for sorting out the infrastructure?

'Lloyds Names' - and their unlimited liability was an entirely different structure, they were investors providing capital for underwriting. Which is why so many went bankrupt during the 80s. Share holders are completely different and, in all companies, the have limited liability. They are not responsible for the day to day running of companies. The things their voting rights extend to are also limited. Which is just one reason why something as basic as water should never have been allowed to be run by a private company in the first place.

The owners are often foreign companies who don’t care. Big fines just hit us, the consumers.

It really is a big problem and water companies are not making money. They are worth next to nothing

This isn't entirely the case. Some are making money, some aren't - now. They couldn't pay dividends if they were not making profit, that is not allowed. South East Water, for example, have not paid dividends to shareholders for a couple of tax years at least. Some water companies are still in profit and so are still paying dividends. Lots - South East included - have huge amounts of debt. Some of the debt is borrowed, in the form of high interest loans, from the shareholders. So they may not be getting dividends paid but they are getting immense amounts of interest paid to them from those high interest loans. It's like a game of Monopoly, but they're a private company, so they can't be treated differently from other private companies, that wouldn't be 'fair'.
And if any government wanted to re-nationalise these water companies, how on earth could they afford to take on that debt alongside running the company?

Worth remembering that the water boards had large amounts of debt before they were privatised. But these companies were allowed to take on each water authority as a private entity debt free. The government, or more correctly, the taxpayer had to deal with the 5 BILLION GBP of debt that was written off when the industry was privatised. If it could be traced back, we're probably still paying for it......

Just starting watching this, horrified, furious, so depressing! Hoping it will gain more traction, it is time to bring water back under public ownership as a matter of urgency! We must do better by our people and our wildlife.

Same here, I feel really foolish for not knowing about any of this. I would definitely go to a protest and take my kids too.

Hello I finished episode 3 of this last night. I had followed the press about water companies’ sewage dumping but not in any great depth. I watched this with my jaw just wide open; it is indeed a national
scandal.

I thought the actors’ naturalistic style of performance really did the various story threads justice - it was so
real. Any actors on the thread who know how that’s achieved?

Omg I have just watched it. I will never swim in the UK again 🤮🤢 Even more infuriating and criminal than the water companies is the so called Environmental Agency!

Are you anywhere near the Kent coast?

https://whitstableviews.com/2026/02/26/join-julie-wassmer-in-historic-legal-showdown/

I'll be here on 19th March, along with my family, supporting Julie.
Just to be clear, Julie makes it clear that she is big enough, and 'rich' enough to do this, she does not advocate that anyone else stops paying their water bill, because SE Water can, and do, (obviously) prosecute.
But that doesn't stop people supporting her.
There's also a fair few locals now wondering if we should do the same....they can't prosecute us all.
It needs a really big name to start pushing this, I see Hugh Grant (retweeted by Channel Four) has waded in.

Wish I could join you.

Looking out for anything happening local to me.