This time last year, the former South West Water (SWW) CEO claimed customers were among the company’s top priorities. Last week the company pleaded guilty to supplying water unfit for human consumption… a circle that is difficult to square.

The charge, brought by the Drinking Water Inspectorate, centred on the cryptosporidium outbreak in the Brixham area. As you may recall, the outbreak, which occurred in May 2024, left around 16,000 homes without water, and according to official figures, made more than 140 people unwell, with 4 requiring hospitalisation.

Local residents say the illness affected far more than 140 people.

Sadly, for some the crisis did not end there. I have spoken with people who still do not trust their tap water and others for whom cryptosporidiosis started or inflamed pre-existing eating disorders as well as other medical issues they are still battling with today.

In other words, this was a life-changing event, which deserved to be treated with an appropriate level of seriousness. But SWW’s response during and after the crisis left a lot to be desired.

The former CEO hid from local media as the situation unfolded; she eventually spoke to BBC Spotlight in May last year, where she finally apologised 12 months after the outbreak.

An admission of guilt took even longer. I am glad SWW has owned up to their serious failures. But let’s be clear: this awful event should never have happened.

That it did feels emblematic of a water industry that has put shareholder profit over customers, infrastructure upgrades and the environment for years.

The day after SWW’s appearance before Exeter Magistrates Court, South East Water was hit with a £22m fine by the industry regulator for “multiple supply disruptions” in Kent and Sussex, showing poor performance is not limited to our neck of the woods.

Last summer, the government finally started to overhaul our water industry off the back of Sir Jon Cunliffe’s wide-ranging report on the sector. In that report, Sir Jon was blunt: “there is no simple, single change, no matter how radical, that will deliver the fundamental reset that is needed for the water sector”.

In response, the government promised to abolish the industry regulator, Ofwat, and pool its powers, along with the Drinking Water Inspectorate’s and some functions from the Environment Agency, into a new, single regulator.

At the time, the Liberal Democrats welcomed this long overdue step. But nearly a year on, progress has been glacially slow. The government must go much further and faster and think imaginatively to solve the crisis in confidence in our water sector.

The Liberal Democrats want to see a change in ownership model so that companies become mutually owned by customers and employees. This is a sizeable move, but it is exactly the kind of ambition needed to turn the industry around.

I will continue pushing for this and for greater accountability. I want to thank the Drinking Water Inspectorate for bringing the case against SWW and the many campaigners who worked tirelessly to ensure they felt during the cryptosporidium outbreak was not forgotten.