Letter: Polluting CEOs valued at more than 100 nurses

Dear Editor,

Our rivers and waterways are in a parlous state. When Margaret Thatcher privatised water in 1989, I thought that it would be crazy to buy shares in an ageing Victorian infrastructure. Quite apart from any philosophical objections, surely there would be no profit to be made in such an investment? How stupid I was!

Of course shareholders come first! Let’s not worry too much about the decaying infrastructure and the release of sewage and other pollutants into our rivers!

Between 1991 and 2020, £65.9 billion was paid to shareholders; an average of well over £2 billion each year. The Thames Water boss is paid £2 million on top of a £3.1 million ‘golden hello’; Severn Trent CEO is paid £3.9 million; Anglian Water’s boss is paid £1.3 million plus a £337,651 bonus – which presumably was not related to the company’s performance in reducing pollution.

Conservative governments have been in power for 21 of the 34 years since privatisation. Ample time, surely, to fix the problem or at least make significant progress? But in 2020 there were 400,000 discharges of sewage into our rivers, totalling over 3 million hours.

Meanwhile new developments surround us at an alarming rate, each of them generating income for the water companies. But that increased revenue does not seem to be reflected in the expansion of our treatment works or the reduction of leaks.

The Government’s Environment Bill has put them in an embarrassing situation. Caring for our environment requires regulation, and Conservatives believe that only through deregulation can businesses thrive and grow. The years of exploitation and pollution of our environment need to come to an end, but that is inconsistent with the profit motive. We have come to value the CEO of a water company at over 100 nurses.

We have put profit before service. Isn’t it time to reconsider what we value?

Edward Gildea
Saffron Walden, Essex