London is at risk of running out of drinking water, according to rock star-turned-campaigner Feargal Sharkey, who also slammed “criminal fraud” among companies operating in the sector.
On the hosepipe ban announcements, he told GB News: “This, for me, is just another indication of the utter failure of the industry to make the investment needed, the failure of regulation.
“London now is number nine on the list of global cities most likely to run out of drinking water.
“We shouldn’t even be facing this situation, bearing in mind the industry leaks 1 trillion litres of water per year from their badly maintained, underinvested, cracked old network of pipes.
“The reality is, this was all forecast. It was totally foreseeable, and governments, regulators, and the industry did little, if anything.
“So now we have Thames Water, Southern Water, Affinity Water, Yorkshire Water, Anglian Water, and I suspect by the end of the summer, most of the country will be operating under a hosepipe ban.
“It’s just another angle of the, for me, criminal fraud that’s been perpetrated upon the people of England and Wales by the water industry.”
He added: “The response by regulators has quite frankly been appalling.
“It’s been lacklustre. It’s been incompetent, if not showing some form of disinterest. What actually needs to happen right now is we need somebody in charge.
“We need somebody with the drive, the ambition, and we need leadership, and we need urgency. And so far, I’ve seen neither from the regulators or the industry itself.”
