Small Beer for Big Water

Recently, 16,000 homes have been warned to boil their drinking water as cryptosporidium has been found in a reservoir near Brixham, causing 22 known cases of infection.

This reservoir is operated by South West Water, who have the monopoly of water supply over Devon and Cornwall and according to Totnes MP Andrew Mangnall, a damaged air valve allowed animal waste into the water supply.

SWW have apologised and compensated their affected customers, therefore it is safe to assume that it was their fault.

Given their track record as one of the worst polluters in the country, it’s not surprising.

Swimmer Jo Bateman took them to court in 2023 after they rendered Exmouth Beach unsuitable for swimming. They were fined, for unrelated offences dating back to 2016 a record £2.1m that year.

To a company that made a profit of £24.5m, this is small beer*

They plan to have a maximum four star rating by the end of this year and have pledged £750m to improve their supply system. I am not privy to their current finances, but as a gambling man, I would bet that much on this outcome not happening, if I had it.

The Environmental Agency, under our current system are toothless if they can only fine a company, who have been at the bottom of environmental safety lists for a decade, less than one tenth of one years profit.

Private water companies need to be in the hands of the workers, and administered under a planned economy. Otherwise, they will continue to make money and have a lackadaisical approach to the safety of the product they provide.

*small beer was the third brewing of a malt mash in the middle ages up until the 19th century. It had a low alcohol content and was popularly believed to have been made as an alternative to dirty drinking water.
However, in those times, wells and conduits did provide clean water (for a price) and small beer was drank more for nutrition.

Imagine in the 21st century people paying for clean water and still having to brew it before it was safe.

Chris Haws

May 2024