Underinvestment in infrastructure combined with sustained water pollution by industry contributed to a continued decline of both river and tap water quality. By 1980, investment in the water sector was just one-third of what it had been in 1970. Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government, which had been elected in 1979, had curtailed the RWAs ability to borrow money they deemed necessary for capital projects. Daniel Okun said: "Before, they could borrow money everywhere easily. They could get money at very good rates. Restrictions on external borrowing prevented the [RWAs] from getting capital. They were considered ineffective because they could not borrow money. Thatcher prevented them from borrowing and then blamed them for not building." When the European Union introduced stricter legislation on river, bathing, coastal, and drinking water quality, the sector was in no position to meet the expenditure requirements and the UK was prosecuted for noncompliance. Estimates of the capital expenditure required to achieve EU standards and meet the existing backlog in infrastructure maintenance ranged from £24 to £30 billion. Process The Conservative government of the day had originally proposed water privatisation in 1984 and again in 1986, but strong public feeling against the proposals led to plans being shelved to prevent the issue influencing the 1987 general election. Having won the election, the privatisation plan was "resurrected and implemented rapidly." The newly created, privately owned, water and sewerage companies (WSCs) paid £7.6 billion for the regional water authorities. At the same time, the government assumed responsibility for the sector's total debts amounting to £5 billion and granted the WSCs a further £1.5 billion—a so-called "green dowry"—of public funds. The ten privatised regional water authorities were: Anglian Water (previously Anglian Water Authority) Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water (previously Welsh Water Authority) North West Water (previously North West Water Authority) Northumbrian Water (previously Northumbrian Water Authority) Severn Trent Water (previously Severn Trent Water Authority) Southern Water (previously Southern Water Authority) South West Water (previously South West Water Authority) Thames Water (previously Thames Water Authority) Wessex Water (previously Wessex Water Authority) Yorkshire Water (previously Yorkshire Water Authority) The process of privatisation also created three new regulatory bodies: the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), responsible for monitoring potable water quality; the National Rivers Authority (now the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales), responsible for monitoring river and environmental pollution, flood risk management on major rivers, freshwater fisheries, water resource management and conservation of the natural