Water supply and sewerage services used to be provided on a local basis by a mixture of local authorities (e.g. Wrexham Rural District Council) and joint organisations with multiple local authorities (e.g. Doncaster and District Joint Water Board). This set up was quite fragmented and there was no “source to tap” or “source to source” thinking. In the late 1960s and early 1970s there were problems with meeting the future demands for these services, prompting a restructure.
The Water Act 1973 established 10 new regional water authorities. These authorities were responsible for managing water resources and supplying water and sewerage services on a fully integrated basis. The regional water authorities took control of the services that local authorities had previously been supplying. Central government set financial constraints, and performance aims for each authority.
The European Union introduced stricter legislation on river, bathing, coastal, and drinking water quality, which the regional water authorities were struggling to meet in 1985. Estimates of the capital expenditure required to achieve EU standards and meet the existing backlog in infrastructure maintenance ranged from £24 to £30 billion, a sum not possible to achieve with government funding.
The 10 new regional water authorities were sold (“privatised”) from being government-owned to being privately owned in 1989. This was done because privatised companies are able to access different funding routes (e.g. they can raise finance through the stock market , they can access private capital etc) so they had more money to invest in infrastructure to achieve the new EU standards.
- Anglian Water (previously Anglian Water Authority)
- Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (previously Welsh Water Authority)
- North West Water (previously North West Water Authority)
- Northumbrian Water (previously Northumbrian Water Authority)
- Severn Trent Water (previously Severn Trent Water Authority)
- Southern Water (previously Southern Water Authority)
- South West Water (previously South West Water Authority)
- Thames Water (previously Thames Water Authority)
- Wessex Water (previously Wessex Water Authority)
- Yorkshire Water (previously Yorkshire Water Authority)
Also established were some regulators:
- The National Rivers Authority – the environmental regulator
- The Drinking Water Inspectorate – the drinking water quality regulator
- The Director General of Water Services supported by the Office of Water Services (Ofwat) –the economic regulator
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| The 10 new regional water authorities. Source: Sun, Jingrui. (2021). Connectivity restoration for fishes in post-industrial rivers of North East England. |
