Tuesday 9 August 2022 12:40 AM Water company bosses should be banned from trousering bonuses until leaky pipes ... trends now
Water bosses should be banned from earning bonuses until they fix mains leaks that waste billions of litres of water daily, critics said last night.
As hosepipe bans are threatened around the country, burst pipes in London and Kent turned roads into rivers and left cars submerged yesterday.
During one of the hottest summers on record, furious residents watched as water cascaded through streets, while homes and businesses were left without supplies in Islington, north London. Homeowners were urged to move to higher ground as more than 70 firefighters battled rapidly rising water levels.
The ‘tsunami’ of water sparked anger at the poor performance of water companies that reward their bosses with fat salaries and bonuses while presiding over creaking infrastructure.
A burst water pipe in Warwickshire near Leek Wootton yesterday
It emerged that hosepipe bans could last until October after the Met Office warned that rivers may not return to healthy levels for months. Forecasters said temperatures were likely to drop after the weekend, but it would be a while before there was ‘meaningful rainfall’.
The Liberal Democrats and The Rivers Trust charity want the Government to ban new bonuses for water company executives until holes in leaking pipes are repaired. About one fifth of all drinking water produced washes away through cracked pipes and reservoirs – some 3.1billion litres of water every day in 2020/21, the regulator Ofwat said.
Water companies have only promised to halve leaks by 2050, despite predictions of a rise in droughts. Last month was the driest July in England since 1935, with just 35 per cent of its average rainfall for the month, while Wales only got 53 per cent.
Analysis of Companies House records by the Lib Dems shows executives at England’s water and sewage firms earned £48million in 2020 and 2021, including £27.6million in bonuses, benefits and incentives.
The scene at Hornsey Road and surrounding area including Harvist Estate and Sobell Leisure Centre in Islington, north London where firefighters were dealing with a burst water main that caused flooding of about 4 feet
Southern Water, which brought in a hosepipe ban on Friday, paid its executives £3.4million in bonuses, despite having pumped raw sewage into rivers and failed to fix leaking pipes.
Thames Water, which is
