A former head of Welsh Water has claimed Wales should profit from transferring water to England.
John Elfed Jones, former chairman and chief executive of the company, says water is a business and, like oil, it should be sold to make money.
It comes as Severn Trent, which supplies mid Wales, announced plans to sell water to Anglian Water, one of the firms which has imposed a hosepipe ban.
But Welsh Water said water transfer was too expensive and impractical.
Mr Jones told BBC Wales’ Taro Naw programme, to be broadcast on S4C (Tuesday 21:30 BST): “What is fairness? Is it fair that Wales isn’t profiting a penny from the water which is exported to England?
“In 50 years will our people look back and ask why didn’t we invest years ago?
“It’s about time we took this option seriously,” he said.
“It’s a lack of energy and vision which leads us to be in difficulties often.”
A current hosepipe ban affects 20m people in England who get their water from Thames Water, Southern Water, South East Water, Anglian Water, Sutton and East Surrey, Veolia Central and Veolia South East.
There has been a debate over transferring water from regions such as upland areas of Wales.
On Tuesday, Severn Trent announced plans were being drawn up to supply more than 100,000 homes in the worst-hit areas.
It aims to sell 30 million litres of water a day to Anglian Water, one of the seven companies that imposed a hosepipe ban at the beginning of April to help ease the shortage.
Pumping from boreholes, Severn Trent plans to flow water from sources beneath Birmingham into the River Tame, which joins the Trent.
BBC has the full article
