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| Volume 52 Number 19, August 27, 2022 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
Photo: The Mirror
In the conditions of the driest period in England since 1976, hosepipe bans are being put into force throughout the country. Two issues pose themselves. First, who decides? The response to the crisis is police powers arbitrarily imposed by private water companies, assuming the role of public authority. And second, those very companies, bound by their narrow private interests rather than aimed at meeting a critical social need, are what have failed to ensure that continuous water provision is properly planned for in a country that has, as a general rule, water in ample supply, despite the current weather conditions.
The first ban came into effect on August 7 in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Privately-owned Southern Water, which holds authority over the region, enacted its police powers in a public communiqué, five days before a drought was even officially declared on August 12. Several other water companies having authority over other regions have since followed suit.
"Hello, we've introduced a Temporary Use Ban to protect local rivers," began Southern Water in its letter to its "customers". The communiqué cites Section 76 of the Water Industry Act of 1991, in which the company was handed this position of authority by parliament, stating the restrictions they were about to apply, and warning that people could be fined up to £1,000 for non-compliance. The monopoly also stated that the measures will remain in force for an estimated 21 days, within their anticipation and subject to their whim. They finished their letter with a slight reference to their well-known failures such as their much-vaunted addressing of leaks.
These private water companies have long stood accused of failing to provide adequate security to the environment and the economy. They have not invested in water storage, reservoirs and tanks, to secure supply and protect rivers and lakes and the wildlife it contains. They have not saved water during rainy days of excess to be used when the sun shines and in periods of drought. Water companies have recently been criticised for inadequate response to water waste treatment and the dumping of sewerage. Profiteering and the taking of dividends have instead been the prime concern of the private investors.
The crisis exposes the nature of privatisation, which was as much about restructuring the arrangements of state as about selling off lucrative public services. Handing over key aspects of public authority has been central to this programme. But the resulting crisis is becoming acute, which is why the imposition on the Isle of Wight, for example, has led to contradictions. Certain councillors are making plans to revisit their resilience organisation, which responds to emergencies such as drought and flood. Such people, working within the local public authority such as it still exists, are coming up against these powers that have been usurped by individualistic, private interests.
Society needs to provide for the material and cultural requirements of households, of workers, pensioners and the public, such as the need for gardens and the necessities of people's houses and indeed life itself. Instead, private commercial interests, the interests of the rich, come first. Where have the land and grounds of the aristocracy, the wealthy estates of the oligarchs, the luxurious offices of CEOs, the apartments of the super-rich, the towers of the City of London and Canary Wharf, been affected or targeted? It is workers and small businesses who are told to cut back and provide the solutions and mitigate the consequences of the heatwave and climate change.
It is becoming clear that natural disasters and climate change, heatwaves and floods exacerbate the general economic crisis, as well as the government's own crisis of legitimacy and credibility. Governance and authority is being passed to those private interests that are responsible for the misdemeanours in the first place. The profiteering billionaires have no solutions. Private interest is put forward to trump public interest. Authority needs to be constituted in the name of the people to ensure that their material and cultural interests are not compromised or scapegoated in favour of elite private property interests.