[gramie]

The BBC said (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw4478wnjdpo) that in 30 years, private water and sewerage companies in England and Wales have extracted over 86 billion pounds (~USD $115 billion), while investing very little.

Meanwhile, consumer water rates in those areas increased by as much as 50% in the past year alone.

[rayiner]

What is the number? It is a huge red flag if you see an article that cites a profits number without citing a number for capital invested. You literally cannot reach a conclusion either way without comparing the two numbers.

EDIT: The UK water regulator has the capital investment data here: https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/publication/long-term-data-series-o.... What does it say?

[PaulDavisThe1st]

> You literally cannot reach a conclusion either way without comparing the two numbers.

You certainly can reach a conclusion, and the GP did.

What you can't do is to compute the rate on return on their investment. But as a user of a water system, why do I care about that?

[spwa4]

The UK has an economic and corruption problem, not a water problem. In fact, it's probably got too much of all 3.