[Verse 1] Nineteen eighty-nine, the government uncorked the main, Ten water lords let loose to chase the private gain, Five point two billion raised from selling streams and drains, Five billion in old debt got wiped out like the stains, Then a green dowry, one point five billion poured in clean, A parting gift to float them, dressed up evergreen. [Chorus] Five point two to sell her, Five billion debt forgiven, One point five the dowry, That's how the deal was given, Water sold with debt, under every tap, Water sold with debt, filling up the gap. [Verse 2] Decades rolled on quiet as a drain in winter's chill, Leverage dressed as structure, climbing up the hill, Owners borrowed hard against the bricks and ancient lead, Dividends kept flowing while the pipework bled, Sixty billion owed now, maybe more they hide, Debt became the business model, floating on the tide. [Chorus] Five point two to sell her, Five billion debt forgiven, One point five the dowry, That's how the deal was given, Water sold with debt, under every tap, Water sold with debt, filling up the gap. [Verse 3] Two thousand six, the bankers came to claim the Thames, Borrowed 'gainst the river, pinstriped diadems, By twenty twenty-four the balance sheet had drowned, Fifteen billion deep, with sirens ringing round, Special administration whispered down the hall, A utility too soaked, too vast to simply fall. [Verse 4] But over in the valleys, two thousand and one, Glas Cymru rose up, not-for-dividend, done, No shareholders skimming off the top of every bill, Welsh water kept its margins locked behind the hill, A different kind of plumbing, where the profit stays at home, Proof the pipes don't have to feed a distant corporate throne. [Verse 5] Pension funds and sovereign wealth came circling for the yield, Infrastructure dressed as safe, a fortress in the field, Ofwat watched the water meters, counting every drop, But never truly audited the debt stacked to the top, Regulators toothless while the balance sheets grew thin, The public bears the flood when the money can't get in. [Bridge] Cunliffe came to measure, twenty twenty-five, Asking if the model could keep the system alive, Regulation blinking, rewriting out the rules, While customers keep paying for the leverage of the fools. [Chorus] Sixty billion rising, climbing past the top, Fifteen billion Thames-side, tell me when we stop, Water sold with debt, under every tap, Water sold with debt, filling up the gap. [Outro] From Tudor crowns to turbines, the old trick stays the same, Move the debt off paper, hand the public the blame, Part nine will show you deeper how the ledgers learned to hide, Water sold with debt, dear — rising with the tide.
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