Murky Water: Challenging an Unsustainable System -- Luca Calafati, Paperback

Essential reading for anyone concerned with the future of our most vital resource.

Our water system is a mess. Rising bills and rivers full of sewage grab the headlines, but the greater threat is climate crisis, bringing increased drought and flooding.

This book exposes the many problems with our unsustainable water system. Unfair charges limit spending on infrastructure, while financial extraction has turned the water companies into debt-burdened zombies in an increasingly fragmented system.

Reforming regulation and tinkering with tariffs will not be enough, and public ownership is just the first step. Murky water shows that the system can only be made sustainable through a radical overhaul of how it is owned, managed, funded and planned. We need a new kind of water management, with national and catchment planning and coordinated action by landowners, local authorities and water companies.

Westminster and Whitehall currently stand in the way. To overcome their resistance and secure a sustainable future, we must ignite a social movement capable of challenging power.

Author: Luca Calafati, Julie Froud, Colin Haslam
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: 11/11/2025
Pages: 336
Binding Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9781526188700

About the Author

Luca Calafati is an independent researcher and social entrepreneur
Julie Froud is Professor of Financial Innovation at Alliance Manchester Business School
Colin Haslam is Emeritus Professor of Accounting and Finance at Queen Mary, University of London
Sukhdev Johal is Chair in Accounting and Strategy at Queen Mary, University of London
Karel Williams is Director of Foundational Alliance Wales