In 2023, Yorkshire Water paid its shareholders £121 for every hour it dumped sewage.

• This "profit from pollution" rate is based on Yorkshire Water polluting for 516,386 hours and paying out £62.3m in dividends.
• The company is over half owned by Hong Kong investment firms and over a third owned by the Singapore government. The remainder is owned by an Australian pension scheme.
• Yorkshire Water has paid out a total of £7.6 billion in dividends since privatisation in 1989.
• Its debts have reached £4.8 billion. It was privatised with no debts.
• 16% of your bill is spent servicing Yorkshire Water's debts.

Privatisation VS Public Ownership

• England and Wales are the only countries to have fully privatised water and sewerage systems.
• Our bills have gone up by 40% in real terms since privatisation.
• Publicly owned Scottish Water has spent 35% more than the English water companies. If England had done the same an extra £28 billion would have been invested in sewage and leak prevention.
• Public ownership can make water companies more accountable. Paris Water has bill payers and sewage campaigners on its board, alongside water workers and elected councillors. In the Netherlands, water companies have to publish data on their performance

Read more at our dedicated water policy page here: https://weownit.org.uk/public-ownership/water