Hundreds of hidden sewer overflows are now on Thames Water map
Thank you to everyone that helped us pressure the water company.
These sewer overflows are now in public, on Thames Water’s sewer map (grey circles). Previously their existence had been denied, underestimated or the pollution blamed on people.
Together, we’re making them more accountable to customers, rather than shareholders.
When our previous campaign to make Thames Water display sewer spills online, in real-time was successful we knew this wasn’t the full picture. We had evidence of sewage spillers that were not in the official numbers given to the Environment Agency. The regulator had done nothing about it. People sent our information requests and eventually Thames Water admitted there were 246 unmonitored outfalls across the region.
With the company wanting to spend billions on upgrades this investment needs to be based on accurate data. We now know there are double the number of overflows in London. From February they will display live spill information.
We’ll be checking to see how often they discharge. We will also be pushing the Environment Agency to issue strong permits. We’re not full of confidence. We asked the Environment Agency if it had ever checked the permit for London’s most frequent spiller, in Mayesbrook Park, east London. They told us they had never inspected the sewer overflow or investigated why is discharges so often.
Protecting rivers will be done sewer overflow by sewer overflow, we will be rooting out the weakest permits. It’s granular, detailed work – support us here!
Particular thanks to the Brent River and Canal Society for their help on the River Brent catchment.
Deregulation is breaking our rivers
You may have seen BBC Panorama’s revelations that the Environment Agency didn’t attend any reported water company pollution incidents in the north west of England last year.
Or how Yorkshire Water polluted a river in 2016 having done the same thing a year earlier. It escaped prosecution even though it had ignored an instruction to upgrade the monitoring of the sewer overflow after the first incident.
Why does this keep happening? Budget cuts are only part of the bigger answer.
A fundamental reason is the Environment Agency is told by the Government to “follow the principle that enforcement is a last resort and they should help businesses first” AND “Proportionate delivery of regulation plays an important role in supporting competitive markets”.
But this doesn’t work with monopoly water companies, there is no competition and the customers are captive. We need the Environment Agency to be freed from the requirements of the Deregulation Act 2015 when it comes to water companies. The regulator isn’t failing to do its job, it’s being prevented from doing its job.
We need the Government to specify the Environment Agency does not have a growth duty towards water companies in both ‘The Economic Growth (Regulatory Functions) Order 2017‘ and the ‘Growth Duty: Statutory Guidance“.
This weakening of regulation has seen a rise in ‘Enforcement Undertakings‘. Polluters make donations to river and wildlife charities to escape prosecution. For some charities they make up half their income. While this approach has a role to play it is overused and should not replace prosecutions for serious offences and negligence. The first time Yorkshire Water polluted the stream in Harrogate it was told to upgrade its telemetry to allow continuous monitoring of the storm overflow at the site. The second time, in 2016 the EA “traced the pollution to the Hookstone Road overflow, which had been blocked. Yorkshire Water wasn’t alerted due to faulty telemetry“. At that point a prosecution case should have started. Similar numbers of fish died in the Hookstone Brook as died in the Gatwick Stream/River Mole. The Environment Agency did prosecute in this case and Thames Water were fined £3.3m and paid a £1m Enforcement Undertaking. Yorkshire Water were given the option of paying £1m to escape a court case, which they took. The conversation around water companies is dominated by “punish more and harder” but of course we want fewer pollution incidents. This means greater compliance and preventative action by regulators, like site visits. Every fine means less money to invest in maintenance and upgrades.
Thames Water is £5bn short of what it needs, even with a 40% bill hike
The reason the company is still able to keep going is because of the money from its millions of customers, but it faces existential weaknesses.
It is £18 billion in debt. Its infrastructure is in a poor state “This decline in health has taken place over decades as we have stretched the life of our assets, repairing rather than replacing”. By the end of 2025 Thames Water estimates it will have an asset health deficit of £19.3 billion.
It also is £5bn short of what it needs to pay for its new Business Plan and says it will raise it from shareholders and the debt markets BUT that depends on increasing bills by 40% AND financial penalties being capped for missing targets. Thames Water says investors must be offered “an opportunity to earn returns that are competitive with the returns that can be earned on investments of similar riskiness elsewhere.” and “There are thousands upon thousands of other places that an investor can invest their money”.
The problem for Thames Water is that even if it gets the money it wants, the problems are multiplying. The company has missed its leakage target, and Category 1-3 pollution incidents increased to 257 over the last year (and the record in 2022 was the worst since 2013). The company will hear from the regulator Ofwat next year if it will be allowed everything it wants. It is locked in a game of poker, but using our money, having gambled away all its previous winnings.
As things stand it would be irresponsible for Ofwat to concede. It is time for the water company to be put into Special Administration. The Secretary of State can ask the High Court to appoint an administrator to run the company. With all the problems besetting the company, fixing it will be a complex and lengthy process. People and nature will continue to bear the burden.
Accountability is essential
Thank you to those sending our Formal Complaints to Thames Water targeting the most frequent sewer spillers in London. They have revealed the Government is now running this process. This isn’t a surprise given how damaging the issue of sewage pollution has become.
The worry is that it is now hidden from public view. Water companies were already assessing sewers that overflowed more 40 times a year. Defra is now using a less focused approach.
With pressure to reduce more discharges sooner the risk is that we see expensive, rushed projects, imposed on communities. Instead we must take the opportunity for integrated projects that also protect people from flooding, using green infrastructure. Places that soak up rain and stop it overwhelming sewers.
Defra says sewer overflow reduction plans “will be published shortly”. If they are too weak we will refer them to the Office for Environmental Protection for review.
Outdoor Swimmer magazine recently asked Theo Thomas to write an article looking for ways through our current problems.