Populus - Majority back compulsory water metering & renationalisation

For the last month or so Populus have been conducting weekly poll for the BBC's Daily Politics programme - normally on Fridays. Last week's poll covered attitudes towards the water shortage in the South of England. Questions on the water companies' responsibility for leaks produced predictable answers - 82% of people thought that the amount of water themselves could save in their homes paled into insignificance compared to the amount of water lost through leaky pipes, and 89% thought that water companies should be compelled to fix all leaks before keeping any profits (a somewhat strange question - presumably Populus intended to ask if water companies should be compelled to fix all leaks before distributing profits to shareholders, but didn't think respondents would understand what dividends were.)

More interestingly, there was broad support for compulsary water metering with 63% in favour and 35% opposed. 56% of people supported the renationalisation of the water companies and their replacement with a single state owned water board, 38% of people would oppose such a move.