We can control Thames Water with the Environmental Information Regulations
Bills are rising and billions of pounds will be spent on sewer overflows and aging infrastructure. We need to hold the company to account and scrutinise their plans.
Thames Water wants to upgrade 26 sites across London. They sent us the list but one of the overflows no longer existed. Further investigation revealed the list had not been finalised. That won’t happen until 2028. We worry that with a lack over oversight expensive options will be selected which increase the value of the company rather than those that tackle the worst sources of pollution. When Thames Water sent its new Business Plan to Ofwat, the regulator said there had been “a lack of investigation and data gathering for proposed investments.” Thames Water has also told Ofwat that it has been unable to complete 100 environmental improvement projects due by the end of 2025. Greater public scrutiny will reduce the risk of problems like these.
It is our money that will pay for this work and we have a right to know it is being used wisely. This right is enshrined in the Information Regulations.
By sending our email to Thames Water you will be telling them to comply with the law. Our call is to start by publishing its investment plans for the first 10 sewer (storm) overflow sites in London. They must be updated as changes occur.
We used this tactic to make Thames Water publish its sewer overflows online in real-time.
If Thames Water refuses to publish the information it will be using to make decisions we will appeal to the Information Commissioner’s Office, they can make Thames Water put the plans in the public domain.
We expect that by publishing the information Thames Water’s projects will be more effective. They can be assessed by independent experts. If we discover that the decisions made for some upgrades are inadequate we can challenge them via a Judicial Review. If the Tribunal ruled in our favour Thames Water would have to develop better plans. We hope of course that it wouldn’t come to this.
The Mulberry Court overflow discharged into the Olympic Park Wetlands 41 times last year. Thames Water says it will be upgraded by 2030. Below is the published investment ‘plan’. There’s simply not enough information. We deserve better than this.
The lack of more detailed information means Thames Water is breaking the law.
Email Template:
To EIR.Requests@thameswater.co.uk
Subject: Publish detailed plans for storm overflow upgrades
Dear Thames Water,
Under Regulation 4 of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 you have a duty to progressively make available to the public your plans to reduce emissions to rivers in London. These should be on your website and organised so that they can be actively and systematically disseminated. This shall include the cost-benefit and other economic analyses and assumptions used to produce these plans.
Further note Regulation 12 (9) which says that if the environmental information relates to emissions, a public authority shall not be entitled to refuse to disclose that information under an exception referred to in paragraphs (5)(d) to (g).
Re Regulation 12 (5) (d) to (g) I would refer you to the EIR Code of Practice; Sections 41, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 53. Essentially, if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in withholding it, the information must be disclosed.
Under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 I request that you:
Send me a list of the first 10 storm overflows you intend to upgrade in London (on the 13th March 2025, you said £1.8bn will be invested over the next 5 years to reduce spills from 26 storm overflows).
Publish on your website the detailed assessments for the first 10 storm overflows you intend to upgrade in London. Please include the cost-benefit and other economic analyses and assumptions used to produce these assessments.
Publish the Investment Plans for these 10 combined sewer overflow sites in London when they have been completed.
Update the above information as changes occur, alongside detailed information (explanations of the considerations, factors, and criteria involved) when investment decisions are made.
If detailed reasoning has not been recorded for decisions for particular sites, please briefly explain why, as, according to the EIR Code of Practice published by the ICO, Thames Water has a duty to take reasonable steps to organize records, which includes records of reasoning.
Electronic communication is fine.
Yours faithfully,
If the email doesn’t automatically open you can copy our template below and email it to EIR.Requests@thameswater.co.uk