Summer Water Shortage

EDM number 1450 in 1994-95, proposed by Helen Jackson on 16/10/1995.

That this House deplores the profiteering and greed which has driven the privatised water industry and its top executives, and the appalling mismanagement of the industry which has led to unacceptable breakdowns in the delivery of a proper supply during the dry spell this summer; deplores the Government's attempts to blame the customers for wastage and using the crisis to force compulsory metering of domestic properties; believes that the responsibility lies with the Government and the water supply companies, whose cavalier attitude to water conservation and the environment in Yorkshire alone has allowed 100 million gallons to leak from pipes every day, forced on the public threats of standpipes and 24 hour cut offs which endanger public health and involved greater abstraction from rivers in the Yorkshire area, threatening wild and natural habitats; and further believes that mandatory targets on leakage should be established by the Government without delay, and that the whole regulatory and control system of the water and sewerage industry should be overhauled in such a way that reflects its primary public service obligations.

This motion has been signed by a total of 115 MPs, 1 of these signatures have been withdrawn.