The Know Daily - Thursday 29 June 2023

_{Read in 5m 24s ∙ Listening to Gwen Stefani}

The endangered marsh fritillary butterfly has returned to Swindale Valley in the Lake District nearly two decades after the beautiful insect became extinct in Cumbria. Conservationists had been considering reintroducing the species through an official programme but it turned out not to be necessary: the butterfly returned to Swindale because wildflowers and plants had flourished after grazing sheep were replaced with ponies and cattle. Pretty fly news!

💦 What’s going on with Thames Water?

The government has begun drawing up contingency plans for the collapse of debt-ridden Thames Water, which include the possibility of taking the UK’s biggest water company into temporary public ownership.

Why is the company in trouble?
Thames, which supplies about 27% of Britain’s population and is owned by a number of pension funds and sovereign wealth investors, faces a myriad of challenges.

“The water company is struggling with a £14bn debt burden, the leakage rate from its pipes is at a five-year high and, like many of its rivals, it has been repeatedly fined over the discharge of raw sewage into rivers,” explained The Guardian.

How has the government responded?
Ministers and the industry regulator Ofwat are now drawing up contingency plans for the company’s potential collapse.

“If the firm cannot secure additional funding, it could be temporarily taken over by the government until a new buyer is found, in a special administration regime (SAR),” said the BBC. Water supplies will continue as normal.

Sky News has pointed out that taking Thames Water into temporary public ownership “would inevitably fuel calls from critics of the privatised water industry to renationalise all of the country's major water companies”.

What could this mean for consumers?
Reports suggest that placing Thames into temporary national ownership in order to secure a refinancing package could lead to higher bills for customers.

On Wednesday, The Times reported that water companies in England have been drawing up plans to increase household bills by up to 40% over the next few years “to pay for the cost of tackling the sewage crisis and the consequences of climate change”.