[gpt]Rewrite this headline in 12 words or less: Abolishing Ofwat is fine but not enough: teach water bosses that failure has consequences | Gaby Hinsliff[/gpt]

[gpt]Rewrite this article in 3-5 professional paragraphs with insights and context. Use

subheadings for each section. End with “Why it matters:” followed by one impactful sentence:

A harder rain needs to fall on those responsible for the water crisis. Let Thames Water fail – it doesn’t deserve a bailout

In a bone dry summer, every drop of water counts. So, even though the rain is finally falling again now, it’s still hard to take it for granted, or to ignore the way that everything in the countryside still feels unnervingly out of rhythm: earth too cracked, grass too bleached, wheat harvest being brought in too early, rivers too low – and, knowing what Thames Water has been pumping into them, water quite possibly too dirty to cool off in.

In May, the company was fined £122.7m for the combined sins of sewage dumping and continuing to pay shareholder dividends despite its environmental failings. It responded by protesting that it might go bust if actually held accountable for its actions, a sentence that sums up everything people find infuriating about the water industry. Yet its resentful customers have no choice but to keep paying bills that are expected to rise by a third over the next five years – though Thames Water, inevitably, asked to be allowed to charge more – while wondering how we ever let a commodity this precious become so badly managed, heading into a volatile new era of summer drought and winter flood.

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

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Source: Politics | The Guardian