‘The whole thing stinks’: water firms to pay out £14.7bn in dividends as customers foot sewage costs

With cost of cleanup to be passed on to bill payers, analysis shows they will also pay 624 more by 2030 to fund investor payouts

English water companies will pay an estimated 14.7bn in dividends by the end of this decade, while making customers pay for new investment to stem the tide of sewage pollution in seas and rivers, analysis for the Observer has revealed.

Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron denounced the billions going to shareholders as absolutely scandalous" while families struggling with the cost of living would be facing increases in bills to pay for the sewage cleanup.