Turning the tide: How investment can reset the water sector’s reputation. 

By David Button – Head of Insights

The water industry has, in recent years, become a public enemy – an easy target for the media and politicians on supposed corporate greed and environmental recklessness. After years of wrist slaps and threats of action, the current Government made it one of their priorities to better hold the water sector to account – limiting bonuses paid out to executives while bills rise, and setting up an Independent Water Commission, The Cunliffe Review (July 2025). In response the Government recently released A New Vision for Water, which sets out actions to fix the sector.

The Review and subsequent White Paper describe a ‘roadmap’ for rebuilding public trust and a need for a major shake-up for the sector – but whether this will enter the public consciousness is up for debate. When bills increase year on year and the service received in some cases gets worse, will the public really care about a new regulator or an overhaul of water system planning authorities?

Yet, with such deep-rooted distrust in the water sector, the current Asset Management Period 8 (AMP8) represents a pivotal opportunity. The significant investment earmarked for AMP8 is not only a chance to address infrastructure and service challenges, but also a moment for water companies to demonstrate genuine commitment to change and rebuild trust with their customers. If AMP8 is approached with transparency, accountability and a real focus on customer priorities, it could mark a turning point in the sector’s relationship with the public.

To better understand how each major water company’s challenges vary, we commissioned YouGov to conduct a unique survey of the British public that allows us to see what customers of each water company thinks about their provider – their priorities, solutions for rebuilding trust, and how to fix these problems through AMP8 and beyond.

Please complete the form here to pre-register for the full Water report.

Customer perceptions

Because our polling allows us to break results down, we’re able to see how perceptions vary – and which providers have work to do to not only rebuild trust in themselves but also the sector as a whole.

Interestingly, on the whole, people tend to think the state of water supply and management in their area is better than that of the UK in general – in some cases more than half of their customers actually think their water company does a good job. This is particularly true in Scotland and Wales, where perceptions of the sector’s performance is markedly better than in England.

The public wants action on infrastructure and reservoirs

When asked what would improve their perception of their water provider, improvements to infrastructure was picked by 40%. This tallies with the impact that poor infrastructure has on a provider’s reputation.

When asked what was most to blame for the increasing cases of drought and water shortages, the top two responses in every region of Great Britain were “poor water management by water companies” (53% national average) and “ageing water infrastructure” (46% national average).

Alongside this, a lack of new reservoirs was picked by at least a fifth of the population in every single GB region, and customers of five water providers believe their supplier is managing reservoirs poorly (South East, South West, Southern, Thames, and Yorkshire). Respondents in each of these areas were more likely to report experiencing hosepipe bans, or droughts/water shortages in the last year – Yorkshire Water customers being three times as likely to report droughts/water shortages than the national average.

Of these five providers, four will have new reservoirs by 2050 in their areas. The one that doesn’t?

Yorkshire.

AMP 8, coming as the spotlight on the sector has never been brighter, is a perfect opportunity to reframe the sector’s perception and future-proof it as it future-proofs its infrastructure. This polling shows that, for some areas, this opportunity might yet be missed.

Got a thirst for knowledge?

We’ll be launching a report setting out the key findings of this unique survey in the coming weeks – looking at trust, blame, what drives perception of water companies, and what they need to do to win back public trust.

And that’s just a drop in the ocean – our survey includes 30,000 data points across a range of water issues, with results for customers of 14 of the largest water providers. Get in touch to find out more.