The events began with one firm, United Utilities, being accused of illegally dumping millions of litres of raw sewage into Windermere. By Wednesday afternoon, South West Water was telling residents in Devon to boil their tap water after it found traces of the infectious parasite Cryptosporidium in the supply.
It was against this backdrop that key industry figures, including the regulator Ofwat, faced a grilling from MPs as part of an investigation into the water sector by the Environmental Audit Committee.
As industry leaders battled to defend the indefensible, campaigners warned that “somebody is going to die” because of the high pathogen levels in some water courses.
So what is the solution for our ailing water sector? One Labour MP, Clive Lewis, thinks he has the answer. He laid an early-day motion before Parliament on Wednesday, calling for the industry to be nationalised. That is further than his party leader, Keir Starmer, is willing to go, having so far made only a vague pledge to place firms on “special measures” if Labour wins a general election.
Other critics were asking where was the Environment Agency in all this? Among them was the punk rocker-turned-campaigner Feargal Sharkey, who told me that the watchdog had “utterly failed” to protect our lakes and rivers.
The hollowed-out regulator could be a good place for any political party to start if it wanted to turn this whole mess around.