Devon County Council is planning to hold a water conference later this year to bring together relevant agencies and stakeholders to bring about change and an improved water infrastructure in Devon.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Julian Brazil, Leader of the Council, is also calling for government to look at whether nationalising the water industry, or creating not for profit arms-length businesses to run the industry for the public good, are solutions to bring much needed investment and improvement to the country’s water supply.

The Councillor said that the privatised water industry is not fit for purpose, is broken, and that the public are suffering as a result of it.

His comments came as South West Water were in court in Exeter last week for sentencing following the company’s admission to supplying water unfit for human consumption following the cryptosporidium outbreak in Brixham in 2024.

Councillor Brazil said:

“This is symptomatic of the failure, not just of South West Water, but water companies across the country to invest in the infrastructure that would take us into the 21st century.

“Obviously we have the human tragedy, or it could have been, in Brixham. But this is also about the raw sewage that runs into our waterways, and that pollutes our swimming areas.

“We are a tourism and leisure county, and we absolutely need to be able to hold these water companies to account.

“They are costing the local economy; they’re costing individual businesses money and yet there seems to be no accountability.

“Firstly, what we need is to make sure that there is executive responsibility. Secondly, it’s quite clear that the privatised water industry, as it is, is not fit for purpose. So, we need to look at that and whether that means nationalising it, or whether to create arms-length businesses that are run purely for public good and not for private profit.

“I don’t know the answer, but what I do know is that the system as it is at the moment is broken and we are all suffering as a result of it.”

The council is planning to hold a water conference later this year to bring together relevant agencies and stakeholders to bring about change and an improved water infrastructure in Devon.

“If we could legislate, we would,” said Councillor Brazil. “We will be having a conference to amplify the sense of anger and frustration that the public feel about these corporations that are just ripping off the public.

“We’ll also be saying to water companies, what are you going to do about it? When are you going to invest? When is your top priority going to be about infrastructure and investment and protecting the environment, and not about shareholder prices and not about dividends and not about obscene executive pay?

“And when they do that, then we can have a proper conversation with them.

“But until they change their modus operandi, the way they work, then we are going to be at loggerheads with them and we will take the fight to them.”