Privatized to Death: The British Drought That Shareholders Helped Create

Britain is now facing a full-blown drought crisis—an irony not lost on those familiar with its imperial arrogance. In the spring of 2025, the country is enduring its driest start in 69 years, a natural disaster that has swiftly morphed into a national emergency with grave consequences for food security, water infrastructure, and socio-economic stability. Far from being a mere meteorological anomaly, this drought has exposed the United Kingdom’s structural vulnerability and the staggering incompetence of its crisis management apparatus.

Agricultural lands are drying out, crops are failing, and farmers are sounding the alarm: they need early irrigation or risk total loss. Food security is no longer a theoretical policy concern—it is a real, immediate threat. Memories of the 2022 drought still linger, when emergency measures were imposed in London and the Southeast. Shockingly, current water reservoir levels are even lower than they were back then, averaging just 84% capacity—and even less in some areas—further amplifying the crisis.

In response, the water industry—largely privatized and shareholder-driven—has proposed grand investment plans: tens of billions of pounds between 2025 and 2030 to "modernize" the country's water and sewage systems. The plan includes building nine new reservoirs, major water transfer projects, reducing leaks to a third of current levels, and cleaning up rivers by halving sewage discharge. There's also a £1.6 billion fund for urgent issues like storm overflows and nutrient pollution. But let’s not kid ourselves—this is not philanthropy. These investments are being bankrolled by the public.

Households are being asked to foot the bill. Water charges are expected to rise by £7 per month by the end of 2025, reaching £13 by 2030. For a country already struggling with inflation and energy costs, this is yet another burden on ordinary people—while water companies continue paying handsome dividends to shareholders. Critics rightly point out that past regulatory failures and profit-first policies have helped create this mess, raising serious questions about the fairness of the proposed “solutions.”

The repeated droughts have taken a serious toll on food security. According to government data, by 2023, Britain’s self-sufficiency in agricultural production had plummeted to just 62%, a stunning admission of how exposed the country is to climate-related shocks. The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) notes that both domestic food production and imports are being disrupted by climate chaos in exporting countries—further straining an already fragile supply chain. Research shows that reduced access to nutritious food may impact public health and put immense pressure on the already stretched healthcare system.

Climate change is the accelerant behind this crisis. Rising temperatures, increased evaporation, and erratic rainfall patterns are expected to double the likelihood of extreme droughts by 2050. The European Environment Agency warns that adapting to climate breakdown is no longer optional—it is imperative. And it requires coordinated, multi-sector strategies to preserve resources and manage demand. This isn’t a national issue anymore—it’s global. No country, no matter how historically powerful, can solve this alone.

Water scarcity is now endangering food security. Crops like grains and vegetables, vital to local agriculture, are suffering. This pushes Britain closer to relying on food imports. But those same exporting countries are also grappling with climate crises, leaving the global supply chain exposed and brittle. The result? Rising food prices and disproportionate suffering among low-income communities.

The British drought crisis is a clear warning: without coordinated policy, collective action, and a shift away from profit-driven governance, future catastrophes will be even more devastating. The government's failure to anticipate, manage, and mitigate these events reveals deep-rooted unpreparedness and systemic neglect. So far, investments and reactive measures have proven insufficient. If governments and societies don’t prioritize this looming crisis now, its consequences will go far beyond parched fields. The very fabric of political and social stability—and the foundations of the global order—could be next.

*Translated by Ashraf Hemmati from the original Persian article written by Amin Mahdavi