A Fresh Water Future brought together the positions of both the public and, and expert practitioners and stakeholders, regarding water management. Bertie Wnek led the public engagement component of the project and explains how the British public feel about water.

Rarely a day passes by without another story about water pollution or water company performance in the UK. And whilst the media picture is almost entirely damning of the water industry, the public picture is much more of a mixed bag.

The British public recognise the difficulties facing water companies but are unhappy at the management of the system – what they perceive to be excessive profits and a failure to clamp down on poor company performance. At the same time, many consumers are happy with the service they get from their water company. In short, the public are more forgiving than journalists.

These findings are the result of a comprehensive research exercise carried out by Public First, commissioned to inform A Fresh Water Future’s policy recommendations for the water sector. We wanted to understand what the public knows about water and how strongly they hold their views. To do that we used four distinct research methods:

• a nationally representative poll of over 4,000 people across the UK;
• three ‘immersive’ research trips to water sources in Wales and England to interview those with a stake in their local waterways;
• six focus groups;
• a two-week online community – a deliberative exercise with 50 members of the public.

The good

84% of the British public see water pollution as either a significant issue or somewhat of an issue, and 81% of the public were very or somewhat concerned about nature in the UK. At the same time, the public still trusts their water company to act in the best interests of consumers by 61% to 35%.

Figure 1: Concern about health of nature in the UK

Survey question: How concerned are you about the health/quality of nature in the UK?

Satisfaction with companies is relatively high, 65% are satisfied with the service their supplier provides compared to only one in ten who are either somewhat or very dissatisfied.

When we spoke to customers across England and Wales, water companies generally had good reputations in the areas they served.[AC1] Whether in Carmarthenshire, East Anglia, Cumbria, Yorkshire or the South West people had mostly neutral or positive views of their supplier. Participants often mentioned reliable supply, friendly and efficient customer services, and compared water favourably to other utilities. As one man from Exeter put it: “They're absolutely brilliant. They're all very helpful … They're very good, excellent, in fact, they come frequently. If we see them, they're very, very friendly.”

Generally, the public also had a sense that bills provided decent value for money. In our polling, 53% said their bill was either proportionate to the service they receive or cheaper than it could be compared to 38% who did not.

The bad

When asked to consider bill increases however, the public are sceptical that any rise will go to the right places. Three fifths of people don’t trust their water supplier to use bill increases on investments to improve infrastructure compared to only a third who do.

There was also anger at the suggestion customers should pay more on their bills to fix problems with sewage overflows and other types of pollution. Eight in ten people thought this was down to companies to sort out themselves. Usually this view was framed in terms of either the company having “enough” money already or the customer paying “enough” already. In the words of one man from Carmarthenshire: “I think we pay enough to be honest. I don’t think we should have to pay any more. It’s down to them to keep it clean isn’t it? It goes straight into their profits.”

In spite of the mostly positive views people hold about their local water company, the water industry as a whole has a bad reputation. Participants often said that the industry is rigged and assumed the motive for its existence is to funnel cash from customers to shareholders and executives. In England, residents saw dividends paid out by water companies as hard evidence of this. In Wales, where Welsh Water operates as a not-for-profit, participants said the same of English companies, but laid more blame on the regulator for the issues locally.

In an echo of research after the financial crisis, totemic firms have an outsized impact on public opinion. For example, when speaking about the industry in the abstract, people in Wales and Northern parts of the UK often used Thames Water and the industry interchangeably. This woman from Wakefield was one example: “Particularly… What's the London area? Thames Water? They've been paying out massive amounts, yeah, to the shareholders to the dividends and things like that.”

The solution

Ultimately, it’s clear that the public wants action and thinks the Government and regulators need to be tougher on polluters. Three quarters of the public think reform of regulation of the water sector should be either the main or one of the main priorities for the Government. A majority of people - about two thirds - believe water companies make too much profit. Still, 71% of people believe that water companies should still be allowed to make a profit as long as it’s restricted.

Figure 2: Attitudes towards water company profits

Survey question: Which of the following comes closest to your view? (Respondents in England)

Notably, three fifths of respondents did not feel they had any input into how money is being spent today compared to only 12% of customers who did, and there was strong support (85%) for local communities having more of a say in how money is spent.

Figure 3: Local input into infrastructure investment

Survey question: As far as you’re aware, are there any opportunities available to you as a customer to provide input on how your water supplier spends its money on infrastructure?

Of course, these views might change in time but this is where the public are likely to be at the coming election. Policymakers should take it into account.

Find out more: https://afreshwaterfuture.org/

Bertie Wnek is Senior Policy Manager at Public first

This story is published in the Spring 2024 issue of The Environment magazine.