I've seen some Dragon's Den car crashes - but this is the worst deal UK has ever done

We have a saying in business: "What gets measured gets managed." But when it comes to one of our most essential natural assets - clean water - we've failed not just to measure or manage it properly, but to prevent its degradation on an industrial scale. This is more than an environmental tragedy, it's an economic liability. Bad investment and dirty business are - and no economy can thrive on a poisoned planet.

Britain's rivers are now among the dirtiest in Europe. Sewage is dumped with impunity. Runoff from agriculture -laden with nitrates, phosphates, and pesticides - chokes waterways and ruins ecosystems. And more focused on dividends than duty, treat pollution as just another business cost. Let's be clear: without clean water, we jeopardise food security, public health, biodiversity, tourism and even property values. Small businesses and cherished local sporting events are struggling due to pollution in rivers they rely on.

The real cost of pollution is borne not by the polluters, but by the public. As someone who has built a career on long-term thinking, I can tell you: short-termism destroys value. Nowhere is this clearer than in the UK's water sector. Since privatisation, water firms have paid out over £83billion in dividends while racking up £68billion in debt.

Meanwhile, pipes leak and sewage spills rise. It isn't smart business - it's economic self-harm. Regulators have lacked both the teeth and political will to enforce environmental standards. Fines must done. At the moment, they are just absorbed as a cost of doing business.

But water giants aren't the only culprits. Intensive agriculture, driven by demand for cheap meat and fast food, plays a major role. Factory farms discharge nutrients into rivers, fuelling algal blooms that suffocate aquatic life. The decline of the an ecologically vital site, is a case in point. Meant to be protected, it has instead been sacrificed to short-term margins and opaque supply chains.

Poor soil health reduces yields, raises flood risks, and forces to depend on chemicals - pushing up costs and emissions. Treating rivers as dumping grounds costs us all. We need a new approach that supports farmers as stewards, not extractors. We must invest in regenerative agriculture, enforce pollution controls, align subsidies like the Environmental Land Management Scheme with clean water outcomes and hold supply chains accountable.

We must also ditch the false choice between economic growth and protection. They are inseparable. Clean water isn't a luxury. It's the foundation of a healthy, modern economy. We've already seen what happens when we fail to protect it: coastal towns lose tourism to sewage-filled beaches. Wild swimmers and anglers face health risks. Fisheries collapse.

Climate change will only compound these threats. I welcome the creation of the Independent Water Commission - so long as it delivers real reform. It must go beyond platitudes and produce evidencebased recommendations to fix this broken industry. We can't cling to the same model that caused the problem.

Yet agricultural pollution isn't within the IWC's remit, despite being one of the biggest threats to our rivers. That's like fixing a leaking roof without checking the pipes. Tackling piecemeal won't work. We need a unified strategy that addresses all polluters - public and private, urban and rural. Though the IWC's consultation will have closed by the time you read this, the need for bold, systemic change remains.

In the meantime, River Action's deserves credit for offering clear guidance to submit evidence and hold decision-makers accountable. The IWC must confront the rot at the heart of the industry: under-regulation, underinvestment, perverse incentives and a failure to price environmental harm into business models.

It must push for mandatory investment, tough enforcement and full transparency. And the must act fast - not only on the recommendations but also to bring agricultural pollution into the fold.

I wouldn't touch a business that treats its core assets the way we've treated our rivers. As a citizen, I won't accept a government that allows this to continue.

Water isn't a commodity to be exploited. It's a common good to be protected. It's time our economy, and our leaders, started acting like it.