We should not be shocked at the size of Thames Water's profits. The company is in business to make money and has to satisfy its shareholders.

What is shocking, however, is how little it appears to have done to reduce leakage in the system.

The company is very good at trotting out statistics about how much work it is doing to repair its crumbling infrastructure. As with all statistics, you can tell any story with them.

The bottom line is that the company is making little or no inroad into the total amount of water that is leaking from the system. It clearly is not hitting the targets set by the regulator.

In these circumstances, it is very hard for consumers to swallow the exhortations for them to conserve water, and it is very difficult for Oxfordshire to accept the argument that a massive new reservoir is needed near Steventon.