The water crisis in England and Wales – which has seen the countries facing widespread drought and utility companies fined for polluting rivers and seas – has been decades in the making. It has emerged as a result of underinvestment, ageing infrastructure, fragmented oversight and governance decisions that allowed financial and operational risks to accumulate outside public view. While Canada and the US have mostly avoided the privatisation approach adopted in the devolved nations of England and Wales, recent infrastructure failures indicate that some of these same governance and accountability issues are beginning to surface. The situation is more than just a warning about privatisation of water. It shows what can happen when governments defer, delay and leave tough conversations and oversight until failures are widespread.