SOUTHERN WATER

In Hastings, not only does Southern Water regularly dump sewage into the sea, but in May 2024 an unmaintained pipe, located in a forest, burst, leaving half the town without water over one of the most important holiday periods of the year.

Hastings Council and newly appointed MP Helen Dollimore negotiated with Southern Water to pay compensation to all the homes and businesses affected. Almost a year later, some of those affected have still not received any recompense, whilst water bills in March 2025 rose by 26% for those with water meters and 52% for those without. 

Previously, in October 2023, Hastings town centre was flooded for the second time that year (January 2023), following heavy rainfall. Apart from the weather, the primary cause of both floods was a manhole cover installed in 2019 and a critical lack of effective infrastructure (eg pumping failure).  

Businesses were compensated for the October flood but not for January. 19 residential properties were evacuated in October, but only a few were compensated. Landlords were compensated but not tenants, many of whom did not have contents insurance. In some cases, tenants' homes were renovated, the rents increased and the tenants had to move out.

Southern Water is 62% owned by Australian company Macquarie, who used to own Thames Water.

Diabolical Data  2025

10 x giclee prints each 38cm x 50.8cm

(Click to enlarge)

Diabolical Data carries figures from Surfers Against Sewage who provide data on the number of sewage spills and their duration caused by all the water companies in England and Wales. Other figures (such as CEO pay) have been gleaned from various other media sources. Many of the investors in most companies are Canadian, Australian or UK Pension Funds. The most disappointing figures come from Welsh Water, which is the one company that is not-for-profit and has no shareholders, which managed to spill the most! For more on ownership see Logo Spills below. 

THAMES WATER

My late mother, in her later years, fought a decade long battle with Thames Water over constant sewage spills that came up via a manhole in her garden. The local pumping station had not been upgraded to cope with new house building in the area. On privatisation in 1989, Thames Water was owned by German company RWE, then Australian company Macquarie, both of which failed to upgrade infrastructure whilst paying out dividends to shareholders.

Mum lived near the Thames and in 2014, the river burst its banks and a large area was flooded. With water rising to over a foot high in her home, she was rescued by firemen and for the next 8 months lived in a rental property until refurbishment of her home was completed. See Dolls House and Real House below.

In 2015, when I lived in south east London, I began my own battle with Thames Water. The landlords of my building commenced major works that were to include replacement of waste pipes outside the building. Leaseholders were to be charged for this work. I argued that the pipes were outside the curtilage of our building and therefore Thames Water's responsibility. The surveyors who had drawn up the schedule of works denied this was the case. It took me over a year, with the help of the Consumer Council for Water, to get Thames Water to admit their drainage maps hadn't been updated since privatisation in 1989, and that the pipes and drains outside our building were indeed theirs to maintain. 

Dolls House 2025

Giclee print 136cm x 52cm with border

When my mother's home was flooded in 2014, one of the many items ruined was the dolls house built by my late father which had been played with by two generations of little girls.