England's privatised water firms paid £57bn in dividends since 1991

Critics say utilities borrowing to pay shareholders instead of improving infrastructure

• One man's fight to get bathing water status for a stretch of river near Bath

English water companies have handed more than 2bn a year on average to shareholders since they were privatised three decades ago, according to analysis for the Guardian.

The payouts in dividends to shareholders of parent companies between 1991 and 2019 amount to 57bn - nearly half the sum they spent on maintaining and improving the country's pipes and treatment plants in that period.