Have you any detailed long form civil engineering takes on the UK water system?
The Bloomberg piece here by Elena Mazneva is pretty light on.
UK water delivery and UK waste removal are both epic systems with a mixture of old and new - the recent Thames rebuild of London's sewerage was a substantial bit of work with multiple tunnels of great length and size that multiple trucks could be driven through.
At the same time rain and other conditions are causing other parts of the UK waste system to overspill and float turds back onto the coast.
Reservoirs and delivery is a whole other ball of string.
toomuchtodo•9mo ago
It's a systemic failure due to privatization and foreign ownership. The solution is to nationalize, all of the investment capital was siphoned off by shareholders over time. When do we get there? Well, lets see how much further the system must approach failure before the will exists to do so.
If you’re looking for something engineering centric system wide, I’ll see what I can put together.
> Britain’s water industry is bracing for the biggest overhaul since privatization after decades of underinvestment. The crisis follows decades of poor regulatory oversight that allowed company owners to pay themselves billions of pounds in dividends instead of using the money to maintain the infrastructure.
“The Cunliffe report will provide simplification, clarity and investor checks and balances,” according to a note by a group of analysts at Barclays Capital Plc including Dominic Nash.
> Some water companies — most notably Thames Water — now face unsustainable debt levels. The UK’s largest water and sewage company is seeking to raise new equity, a process that has been complicated by the firm’s immediate need for liquidity and a restructuring of its debt pile of over £16 billion ($20.2 billion). Without the fresh cash injection, the UK’s largest water and sewage company risks plunging into special administration — a state-supervised process akin to insolvency designed for bankrupt businesses that provide critical services.
> “Something has clearly gone wrong when the biggest water company is struggling close to insolvency,” Cunliffe said.
> Today, water as an industry is in varying levels of crisis. In the south-east, Thames Water, the biggest company, is riddled with debts of £18bn and struggling to extract the millions it needs from shareholders while its value plummets. At South East Water, the cost of servicing its debt has risen in six months by £7.4m to £54.8m as inflation and higher interest rates bite. Total dividends paid since 1989 have reached £83.7bn at today’s prices. Meanwhile, customers are being asked, via bill increases of up to 40%, to pay for required new investment of £96bn.
> Foreign investment firms, private equity, pension funds and businesses lodged in tax havens own more than 70% of the water industry in England, according to research by the Guardian. The complex web of ownership is revealed as the public and some politicians increasingly call for the industry to be held to account for sewage dumping, leaks and water shortages. Six water companies are under investigation for potentially illegal activities as pressure grows on the industry to put more money into replacing and restoring crumbling infrastructure to protect both the environment and public health.
> On 18 November 2021, the Environment Agency and Ofwat announced separate major investigations into potential widespread non-compliance by water and sewerage companies at wastewater treatment works (WWTW). The Environment Agency is now investigating more than 2,200 WWTW that discharge into English waters. This relates to all water and sewage companies. The Environment Agency’s initial assessment indicates that there may have been widespread and serious non-compliance with the relevant regulations by all water and sewerage companies.
toomuchtodo•9mo ago
defrost•9mo ago
The Bloomberg piece here by Elena Mazneva is pretty light on.
UK water delivery and UK waste removal are both epic systems with a mixture of old and new - the recent Thames rebuild of London's sewerage was a substantial bit of work with multiple tunnels of great length and size that multiple trucks could be driven through.
At the same time rain and other conditions are causing other parts of the UK waste system to overspill and float turds back onto the coast.
Reservoirs and delivery is a whole other ball of string.
toomuchtodo•9mo ago
If you’re looking for something engineering centric system wide, I’ll see what I can put together.
Call for Evidence: Independent Commission on the Water Sector Regulatory System [pdf] - https://consult.defra.gov.uk/independent-water-commission/in... - February 27th, 2025
No One is Happy With UK Water System, Chair of Review Says - https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-27/trust-bro... | https://archive.today/83nrc - February 27th, 2025
> Britain’s water industry is bracing for the biggest overhaul since privatization after decades of underinvestment. The crisis follows decades of poor regulatory oversight that allowed company owners to pay themselves billions of pounds in dividends instead of using the money to maintain the infrastructure. “The Cunliffe report will provide simplification, clarity and investor checks and balances,” according to a note by a group of analysts at Barclays Capital Plc including Dominic Nash.
> Some water companies — most notably Thames Water — now face unsustainable debt levels. The UK’s largest water and sewage company is seeking to raise new equity, a process that has been complicated by the firm’s immediate need for liquidity and a restructuring of its debt pile of over £16 billion ($20.2 billion). Without the fresh cash injection, the UK’s largest water and sewage company risks plunging into special administration — a state-supervised process akin to insolvency designed for bankrupt businesses that provide critical services.
> “Something has clearly gone wrong when the biggest water company is struggling close to insolvency,” Cunliffe said.
How could England’s water system be fixed? - https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/10/how-could-e... - January 10th, 2024
> Today, water as an industry is in varying levels of crisis. In the south-east, Thames Water, the biggest company, is riddled with debts of £18bn and struggling to extract the millions it needs from shareholders while its value plummets. At South East Water, the cost of servicing its debt has risen in six months by £7.4m to £54.8m as inflation and higher interest rates bite. Total dividends paid since 1989 have reached £83.7bn at today’s prices. Meanwhile, customers are being asked, via bill increases of up to 40%, to pay for required new investment of £96bn.
Revealed: more than 70% of English water industry is in foreign ownership - https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/30/more-tha... - November 30th, 2022
> Foreign investment firms, private equity, pension funds and businesses lodged in tax havens own more than 70% of the water industry in England, according to research by the Guardian. The complex web of ownership is revealed as the public and some politicians increasingly call for the industry to be held to account for sewage dumping, leaks and water shortages. Six water companies are under investigation for potentially illegal activities as pressure grows on the industry to put more money into replacing and restoring crumbling infrastructure to protect both the environment and public health.
Environment Agency investigation into sewage treatment works - https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/environment-agency... - Published November 17th, 2022, Last updated February 3rd, 2025
> On 18 November 2021, the Environment Agency and Ofwat announced separate major investigations into potential widespread non-compliance by water and sewerage companies at wastewater treatment works (WWTW). The Environment Agency is now investigating more than 2,200 WWTW that discharge into English waters. This relates to all water and sewage companies. The Environment Agency’s initial assessment indicates that there may have been widespread and serious non-compliance with the relevant regulations by all water and sewerage companies.