Recently I wrote to our Lib Dem MP, David Chadwick, about the upcoming debate in Parliament on the water companies across the UK and what should be done about them polluting rivers, streams and lakes - and the sea around beaches that are used by holidaymakers. This includes the River Wye and its tributaries.
Sadly, he was unable to attend the debate because he had previous commitments in his diary, but he did send a letter back to me setting out the Lib Dem position on the debate.
They want mutually owned public benefit water companies that are professionally managed but owned and accountable to the customers who depend on them, with profits re-invested in the water system rather than siphoned off to shareholders.
Several of David Chadwick's Lib Dem colleagues spoke in the debate - he sent me a link to the Hansard entry - and they were pretty scathing about the state of the UK's rivers, and agreed that Ofwat have been pretty useless, and should be replaced with a new Clean Water Authority that actually does the job. They also paid tribute to the citizen scientists (there are lots along the River Wye) who have been collecting the data on the pollution in our rivers, and talked about wetlands, and collection of rain water and other ways that water management can be done in harmony with the natural environment.
They also all agreed that privatisation is a failed model for the water industry, and it should be taken back under public control.
Even though Welsh Water is not-for-profit, and doesn't have shareholders, they have also been failing to keep the local rivers healthy for years.
The debate in Parliament has not, as yet, led to any new legislation, so there is still a need for the citizen scientists and groups like Friends of the River Wye. There's still a court case rumbling on in the background organised by the law firm Leigh Day, concentrating on the chicken farms as well as sewage allowed into the river by Welsh Water.
