From a particularly mild and warm autumn, it appears that
colder and wetter weather is now on the way. It’s timely, therefore, to reflect
on water.
First, the water we do want. We should continue to
celebrate the fact that we have permanent access – apart from the occasional
hiccup -to fresh, clean, wholesome water, a situation not enjoyed by most of
the world’s population. But, are we now paying more than we should be?
Rising water bills are making their own contribution to
David Cameron’s growing cost-of-living crisis. Water prices have risen
faster than in any other major economy. The average cost of water bills rose by
3.8% in April 2013 to £388. According to OFWAT, more than 2.26 million UK
households now spend more than 5% of their disposable income on water.
Yet, the water companies appear to be making exceptional
profits whilst ducking their tax obligations. In September, Yorkshire Water
revealed that it had made £186m profit last year, but not paid a penny in
corporation tax. Severn Trent paid out dividends of almost £160m last year, as
well as paying its chief executive more than £1m. David Cameron’s coalition
government seems to have no interest in tackling rising water bills, so it will
be left to some of us to try to keep this issue in the spotlight.
Then, there’s the water we don’t want. The 2012 Climate
Change Risk Assessment said that flooding is the greatest environmental threat
to the UK. For many of us in South Yorkshire and North East Derbyshire, the
devastating 2007 floods remain in focus. And 8000 homes were flooded last year.
Yet, in the comprehensive spending review, the government cut the flood capital
budget by 27%, whilst the government itself estimates that the number of people
at significant risk of flooding will double to at least 2m by 2020. So
the government is now planning to invest £138m less in 2015 than the minimum
investment its own experts have said is required. That’s not clever.
And now we learn that, after the near collapse of the
flood insurance negotiations, the government hasn’t done a deal, but has
reached a ‘memorandum of understanding’ with the insurance industry. Some homes
and businesses have been totally excluded from the arrangements, and the
government itself says that it is more than likely that the scheme will run out
of money in the first 20 years, so expect higher premiums.
Get the sandbags ready.
