Water companies are safe investments – and too important to be driven by profit

By Kate Bayliss, Research Associate, Department of Economics, SOAS, University of London

The business of running water companies is not always as pure and clear as many of us would like it to be. It is often a world full of wasteful leakages, harmful pollution and debt.

Perhaps this is why the recent announcement that one of the UK’s biggest water companies would be “rescued” by an Australian investment bank, has been welcomed by some as an opportunity to improve things with a £1 billion cash injection.

But we should question why Southern…

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