Jun 8, 2026 – 9.56amTaking a bath at the muddy mouth of the Thames River can hardly be considered anyone’s idea of good clean fun.But for the residents and business people of Kent east of London, anger has boiled over at the failure of a half-Australian-owned utilities company to keep their towns and villages supplied with fresh water.Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Andrew TillettEurope correspondentAndrew Tillett is The Australian Financial Review’s correspondent for Europe, based in London. He was formerly foreign affairs and defence correspondent based in Canberra.Fetching latest articles