Water firm ‘using River Thames like open sewer’

A WATER company has been accused of using the River Thames like an “open sewer”.

The claim was made by South Oxfordshire district councillor Jo Robb in response to figures showing that in 2021 Thames Water dumped raw sewage into the river and its tributaries 5,028 times.

Her council claims that discharges are happening with increasing frequency and that water treatment works are struggling to cope even before thousands of new homes are built across the district.

South Oxfordshire is home to more than 149,000 people but the district is required to accommodate almost 30,000 new properties to be built between 2011 and 2035.

Councillor Robb, who is the council’s “River Thames Champion”, said: “Linking up thousands of new homes with a network that can’t cope now doesn’t bear thinking about.”

She said councils couldn’t reject planning applications for new homes even if the sewerage infrastructure was inadequate.

Instead, they were restricted to imposing planning conditions calling on water companies to upgrade the infrastructure before a development was built.

Cllr Robb said: “This is a result of lack of investment that has been going on since privatisation and now we are starting to see the result of it in our rivers across the area.

“We are talking about a systemic failure to invest and we are now at a point of crisis. It has to be called out.

“The situation is made worse by the climate emergency. We are already seeing long, hot, dry summers and warmer wet weather during the winters. There is no justification that this is a surprise.

“They need to prepare for summer droughts followed by periods of flooding. We are all reaping the results of years of underinvestment.

“At every level Thames Water and its business model is failing the environment and residents. Our rivers are for humans and nature to enjoy. They are not open sewers.”

The council is not informed about sewage treatment capacity or whether development is likely to lead to an increase in sewage discharges into local watercourses. 

But a report from January shows treatment works in South Oxfordshire were operating significantly short of the capacity required to cope with the existing population. 

The study by the Oxford Rivers Improvement Campaign using data from 2020 found half of the water treatment works in the Upper Thames region were discharging raw sewage for more than 10 hours a week.

More than half did not have the capacity to cope with demand.

The report said many more did not have capacity to treat additional sewage flows in the next few years.

Cllr Robb, who is an open water swimmer, said Thames Water claimed raw sewage was only discharged into rivers in exceptional circumstances, such as after heavy rainfall.

But she said the times and dates of the discharges showed they frequently happened during dry periods when there  were no special circumstances to justify them.

“We are talking about the dumping of raw sewage in both wet and dry weather because the treatment works lack the capacity to deal with existing demand and the existing population,” she said. “People are deeply concerned about sewage discharges into the River Thames and its tributaries and the impact this is having on water quality and on the health of people and wildlife. 

“The data we have been able to get hold of so far suggests that there are potentially serious sewage treatment capacity issues and things will only get worse with the requirement to build more homes across the district. 

“We urgently need Thames Water to do much more, including providing ongoing detailed information so we can understand the real scale of the problem.” 

The council is calling on Thames Water to provide up-to-date information on the sewage treatment capacity across the district.

It also wants the company to make clear its plans for infrastructure improvements and how these will reduce, and ultimately eliminate, sewage discharges.   

Thames Water is also being asked to submit information on sewerage treatment capacity when it responds to major planning applications to ensure this data can be considered in the decision-making process. 

The council will use the information to assesses the impact of sewage discharge which will be factored into decisions on its new joint local plan with the Vale of White Horse District Council.

Thames Water said any discharges of untreated sewage were unacceptable and it was working hard to end them.

It said overflows operated automatically when the sewer network and sewage works were about to be overwhelmed and released diluted waste water into rivers rather than letting it back up into homes.

The company said it was committed to providing up-to-date information from all of its 468 permitted discharge points by the end of the year. It was also using new digital technology to improve maintenance and repairs and trialling new sewer level monitors  to reduce pollution by detecting blockages.

A spokesman said: “Our aim will always be to try to do the right thing for our rivers and for the communities who love and value them.

“We regard all discharges of untreated sewage as unacceptable and will work with the Government, Ofwat and the Environment Agency to accelerate work to stop them being necessary and are determined to be transparent.

“We have been, and always are, willing to provide information about our sewage works and explain our investment and river health plans to the council.   

“Our shareholders have recently approved an additional £2billion into the business so we can improve outcomes for customers, leakage and river health and we’re currently increasing sewage treatment capacity at a number of our sewage works across the Thames Valley.

“We recently launched our river health commitments which includes a 50 per cent reduction in the total annual duration of spills across London and the Thames Valley by 2030 and within that an 80 per cent reduction in sensitive catchments.

“We have a long way to go — and we certainly can’t do it on our own — but the ambition is clear.”

Mark Hull, author of the report, said government funding for the  Environment Agency to monitor water companies and pollution had been slashed by two thirds, from £120 million to £40 million in the 11 years to 2020.

He said: “In essence, and with the agreement of politicians and regulators, Thames Water is allowed to use the upper Thames as a free open sewer and sewage treatment works.”