For those that are, for example, in CA, Thames Water probably rivals PG&E or various telecoms for Examples Of Neoliberalism Not Working Very Well. Billions in

For those that are, for example, in CA, Thames Water probably rivals PG&E or various telecoms for Examples Of Neoliberalism Not Working Very Well. Billions in dividends paid out to the private equity that bought it, terrible performance, zero investment, zero competitors, and skyrocketing debts, that the taxpayer may well have to fix because the alternative is millions of voters no longer have a resource necessary for life. On top of that, you of course have a rising population, competing for land (reservoirs and sewage works take up space, almost all the land in South East England is built or farmed, less farming means more sensitivity to the global ~~dumpster fire~~ food market), said population objecting to improvement works (even when improvement works are necessary for the aforementioned life stuff to be delivered), and climate change, which means, er, less water. Or more. Don't actually know. If you did know it was less, you could build desalination. If you know it was more, reservoirs and upgraded sewage systems. But don't know. So build neither, because you're private equity and fuck it, voters aren't your problem. If there's a slightly amoral upside, datacenters are probably one of the best customers to rinse. Profit margins are high, politically not that popular, and being close to London matters. Maybe it could also be one of those kicks I've seen dreamt of a lot of HN, that forces developers to be a bit more efficient rather than throw racks at the problem.