The water sector is front and centre right now as politicians, commentators and industry experts try to make sense of recommendations by Sir Jon Cunliffe in his 464-page review.
Chief among them is the setting up of a new “super regulator”, which will take over from Ofwat, the current economic regulator, and will also absorb the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) and the regulatory responsibilities of the Environment Agency and Natural England.
Cunliffe concluded that, for all its faults, sticking with a privatised model was more practicable than renationalising the water sector.
His review also makes recommendations on how best to tackle the growing issue of sewage spills into the environment, network leakage, bonuses for company bosses, shareholder dividends, customer service and bills and much more besides.
Talk Through Walls, the podcast by political agency Walk Through Walls, attempted to give some clean, clear answers on the water sector but soon found that, like many others, it’s complicated. Have a watch / listen and feel free to fire in with your 2p worth.
