this post was submitted on 07 Dec 2024
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UK Politics

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138
‘Brexit problem’: UK tap water safety at risk after testing labs shut down (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 2 weeks ago by RubberDuck@lemmy.world to c/uk_politics@feddit.uk
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[–] atro_city@fedia.io 43 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Laboratories have to be regulation 31 certified, meaning they carry out all the tests on chemicals, pipes or other items to a certain standard. There used to be three such laboratories in the UK, but since 2021 there have been none as they all shut down because they are expensive to run.

🤣🤣🤣 The market will sort itself, won't it?

[–] sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 10 points 2 weeks ago

UK elites really do hate their pedons extra hard

I guess legacy of parasitic nobility is b strong

[–] Docus@lemmy.world 24 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Ffs - why can’t we have a functional industry regulator that sees things like this coming and does something about it.

[–] jabjoe@feddit.uk 13 points 2 weeks ago

It get corrupted by people moving between the regulator and industry and just money. Joe Lycett did an excellent Channel4 documentary about it, 'Joe vs Sewage'

[–] Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Baby Boomers would trample them in their uniformly malicious, gleeful desire to drag all of society backwards.

Why is Brexit even a thing? Uniformed, old people with grossly inflated sense of their importance and a pervasive need to punish "others."

[–] sabreW4K3@lazysoci.al 20 points 2 weeks ago

It just keeps getting worse.

[–] SouthEndSunset@lemm.ee 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

What the fuck? So we’ve got shit going in our water, and now can’t test whether the water supplied to our homes is clean…

To make it worse we’re probably going to have countries kicking off at us cause their water has got our shit in it.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It only affects new product testing, not water testing.

[–] SouthEndSunset@lemm.ee 2 points 2 weeks ago

Ah, I’ll be honest I didn’t get that far down. Thanks for pointing that out.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 15 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

People in the industry have called it a “Brexit problem” because EU countries will share laboratory capacity from 2026

So there's a whole year where brexit is irrelevant?

Honestly the article doesn't do a good job of explaining the problem, or how it's going to be fixed.

[–] Ross_audio@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago

Honestly this isn't hard.

Businesses plan more than a year in advance.

These labs carried on as long as they could make a profit without significant maintenance cycle costs.

Then they look at their market and whether the next cycle is worth the investment.

If we were in the EU they'd be looking into claiming that large market in 2026, instead they're shuttering the business before it starts making a loss.

They're looking at 5, 10, and 25 year profitability. You're looking at a 1 year plan.

This is why politicians and their billionaire donors are so easily able to trick you into voting like an idiot. You choose not to think.

[–] Jackthelad@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

They've basically just shoehorned Brexit into an article about governmental incompetence.

As if being in the EU saved us from our useless politicians.

[–] Ross_audio@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

The water system is a business. The labs are businesses. A competent business shuttering when the market shrinks to avoid making a loss is an effect of Brexit.

The fact our water infrastructure is run as a business is an effect of Thatcher selling it.

We need to vote for a government to reverse Brexit eventually. But we're also still waiting 35 years to reverse the privatisation of the 80s.

The problem with voting for destructive Conservative governments is it costs a lot of money to replace the things they've given away or destroyed.

[–] mannycalavera@feddit.uk 4 points 2 weeks ago

Honestly the article doesn't do a good job of explaining the problem, or how it's going to be fixed.

Would you expect the guardian to explain it? That's like the Sun trying to explain a complex economics problem without referring to Boobs And Bust. Or the Daily Mail trying to explain anything without blaming immigrants.

[–] HumanPenguin@feddit.uk 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Honestly the article doesn’t do a good job of explaining the problem, or how it’s going to be fixed.

It's not great.

But states that the UK had 3 certified labs until 2021. That closed due to cost.

I assume those labs used to sell services to the EU, but Brexit made that more complex. So they closed or moved to the EU. Now Brexit means we can't use them.

But yeah the article leads you to assume rather than explaining, So it could be total bollocks.

As for how it will be fixed. Not sure if that is the media's job unless the gov has announced a plan.

[–] SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 weeks ago

But yeah the article leads you to assume rather than explaining

Articles do this all the time and it's dangerous

[–] YungOnions@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 weeks ago

The problem is with sourcing the materials used to treat water. The labs that have closed are not the ones testing water - our tap water will continue to be DWI compliant and some of the best in the world. The labs that closed are the ones testing the materials used in water treatment. Not an ideal situation, but not a massive problem currently either:

A DWI spokesperson said: “While there are difficulties at present with laboratory capacity within the UK for regulation 31 testing, this has no impact on consumers, and no products will bypass the system. Rather, this is an operational difficulty within the water company and supply chain system. The industry, regulators and government are working towards increasing capacity in the system.”

As usual, it's a doom-laden panic piece made to get people worked up over Brexit.

[–] rpin42@feddit.uk 8 points 2 weeks ago

A drinking water inspectorate spokesperson said: “While there are difficulties at present with laboratory capacity well that is the understatement of the year! There are no laboratories, zero, none!