Worst deal Britain ever did was with greedy water firms

WE HAVE a saying in business: "What gets measured gets managed." But when it comes to one of our most essential natural assets - clean water we've failed not just to measure or manage it properly, but to prevent its degradation on an industrial scale.

- Deborah Meaden

This is more than an environmental tragedy, it's an economic liability. Bad investment and dirty business are killing our rivers and no economy can thrive on a poisoned planet.

Britain's rivers are now among the dirtiest in Europe. Sewage is dumped with impunity. Runoff from agriculture laden with nitrates, phosphates, and pesticides chokes waterways and ruins ecosystems.

And water companies, more focused on dividends than duty, treat pollution as just another business cost.

Let's be clear: without clean water, we jeopardise food security, public health, biodiversity, tourism and even property values. Small businesses and cherished local sporting events are struggling due to pollution in rivers they rely on. The real cost of pollution is borne not by the polluters, but by the public.

As someone who has built a career on long-term thinking, 1 can tell you: short-termism destroys value. Nowhere is this clearer than in the UK's water sector. Since privatisation, water firms have paid out over £83billion in dividends while racking up £68billion in debt. Meanwhile, pipes leak and sewage spills rise. It isn't smart business it's economic self-harm.