Text reads: "Severn Trent paid its shareholders £972 for every hour it polluted in 2023."

Text reads: "Severn Trent paid its shareholders £972 for every hour it polluted in 2023."

In 2023, Severn Trent paid its shareholders £972 for every hour it dumped sewage — the highest in England.

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 in a league table for the public and press to scrutinise. It's called sunshine regulation.

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

Join the SplashMob - Let's own our water

Sign the petition: stop sewage by taking back our water

This is a scandal. Every day, the private English water companies are dumping huge amounts of disgusting raw sewage into our rivers and seas. Privatisation has been failing since 1989.

The shareholders receive £1.6 billion a year on average - that money could be invested in water infrastructure to stop sewage. 82% of us support public ownership.

Let's make water companies work for people not profit.

Yes, I believe water should be in public ownership.
An animated illustration of sewage flowing from a dirty pipe into the sea, killing fish.

Last signature: Ben Leeds, 8 hours 5 min ago