While England and Wales's water companies are privatised, those in Scotland and Northern Ireland are still in public ownership. Huge strides have been made in recent years to increase the efficiency of the industry, reduce leaks and increase profits. Besides providing high quality drinking water at home, many of these companies are also providing expert help abroad. Anglian Water, for example, is part owner of Aquas Argentina and is involved with water schemes in the Philippines, the Czech Republic, China and New Zealand.
Water is big business.
Yorkshire Water, with 2900 employees, produces 1.2 billion litres of water a year from 116 processing plants and distributes it through 30,000 kilometres of pipes. It also processes 1.2 billion litres of waste water, so it's a big operation by any standards. To meet the demands of supplying 58 million people with water, the companies employ people in operations, engineering, planning, installation and control and information technology, and on the commercial side in marketing, finance and human resources. Chemical, civil, mechanical and electrical engineers and chemists are among the many technologists who work for the water companies. Careers tend to progress either to seniority in technical specialisms or into the management of teams.