Veolia CEO: we could run Thames Water if it is renationalised

(by Verity Mitchell)

Estelle Brachlianoff, chief executive of Veolia, has told the BBC that her company would consider running Thames Water if it were taken into public ownership.

Private companies operating assets owned by the state is a familiar model for Veolia in France, although it owns regulated water assets in the US. Running renationalised Thames under contract – its drinking water facilities, wastewater treatment plants and networks – "could be an option, yes,” Brachlianoff said in an episode of the Big Boss Interview.

Brachlianoff continued to say drought and water scarcity cost the British economy more than £1bn this summer. Her warning was that this is not an exceptional summer but the beginning of a pattern.

She accepted that investment is needed, but argued that England and Wales need to spend more intelligently. For instance, she advocated using AI to pinpoint the precise sections of pipe that are failing, to cut the cost of fixing leaks. She also pointed to greater reuse of wastewater, alongside the expansion of desalination – both areas where Veolia has expertise. Her claim was that technology and efficiency could allow Britain to make its water system more resilient without water bills increasing as a proportion of household income.

For Brachlianoff, water is increasingly a national security issue as much as an environmental one. Without secure water supplies, there is no food production, no industry and no functioning economy. According to Veolia, by 2030 UK data centres are forecast to consume the equivalent of the combined water use of Birmingham and Glasgow. Brachlianoff reminded the BBC that tensions between communities and data centres over access to water are already a political issue in parts of the United States. 

Veolia also states it can now destroy up to 99.9999% of PFAS contaminants. The question of who should pay for cleaning up decades of pollution remains unresolved. Brachlianoff said the cost will probably have to be shared between government, industry and consumers.