John Redwood, MP
We are up the creek without a paddle and not a lot of water either and will the Water White Paper save us? It’s very doubtful but the All Party Parliamentary Water Group put a brave face on things at last night’s (21st February) meeting in the House of Commons.
There were a number of eminent water ‘experts’ present including Tony Smith, Consumer Council for Water, Andy Palmer, Wessex Water, Andrew Beaver, Ofwat and Dr Duncan Thomas, Manchester Business School.
And then there was John Redwood, MP, who bought a special ‘clout’ to the evening and was extremely critical of the pending drought, intimating a certain ‘arrogance in the water industry!’
He said: ‘There is a case for competition! Our water supply is useless – in fact, we don’t get a supply! The industry wants to try living in the modern world!”
Of course, the fact that so many people who hold a ‘key’ to the future but are just about retire, is a major problem!
Thomas confirmed this. “There are a lot of ‘champions of change’ who are now retiring and people aren’t coming into the sector bringing new ideas and skills. There are people out there with inventive ideas but are these going to happen.”
One thing seems certain, that under the Water Act we may be water metered until it runs out of our ears! Greater competition amongst water companies could be a good thing but, as one expert put it, this wouldn’t mean that we would end up with ‘three taps at the end of the bath’!
Despite all the doom and gloom in the water industry it was suggested ‘the general trend is upwards’ but as resources are so stretched ‘we need to make some positive savings’.