Campaigners revealed that Thames Water dumped untreated effluent in the rivers around Oxford for more than 68,000 hours last year. They also claim that the amount of money Thames Water plans to spend to improve the situation, which is woefully inadequate.
According to data analyzed by the Oxford Rivers Improvement Campaign(ORIC), the company discharged raw sewerage into the River Thames, its tributaries including River Windrush, River Thame and River Evenlode 5,028 times in 2021.
The campaigners used data from Thames Water to determine that the 10 large sewage treatment plants in the upper Thames from Didcot in South to Moreton-in-Marsh in the Cotswolds could not treat the full capacity of the sewage for the population, which is 1.1 million.
According to their calculations, Oxford and Witney treatment facilities can only handle 62% of the population’s needs. Banbury treatment works can handle just 49%.
Campaigners claimed that more raw sewage was being discharged into the rivers because of the failure to invest in treatment works. In 2021, all 10 works discharged sewage into rivers an average of 11 hour per week. Raw sewage was released into the rivers by the Oxford sewage treatment plants for 892 hours, Swindon for 51 hours, and Witney 935 hours.
According to the ORIC, Thames Water will invest in the improvement of four large treatment plants and 11 smaller ones. This is just a third to expand the works needed to prevent sewage from entering the rivers. The investment plans are only 25% of the 57 treatment facilities that need investment by 2025 when you consider population growth.
The simple truth is that Thames Waters plans do not work, according to Mark Hull, a former consultant in the water industry and founder of ORIC. It is shocking that there aren’t coordinated and appropriate investment plans for the entire region, given the long-standing and well-known problems in the upper Thames region.
Over many years, Thames Water and government’s Environment Agency have failed in this regard. Their underperformance is difficult to believe, especially considering that Ofwat, the financial regulator of the industry, has stated that they would not resist the investment.
ORIC published Wednesday’s report that found that even though Thames Water had made plans to invest, the expansion of capacity may not be sufficient for the 2020s or 2030s. Witney treatment work will increase the capacity by 50%However, this would increase the works to only 93% of required capacity based upon the 2020 population, according to the report.
In 2021, 102 sewage treatment facilities were discharged into the rivers along the upper Thames. Nearly a quarter of the works discharged more than 1,000 hours per year. Forty-nine of these works were discharged for longer than 10 hours per week.
The campaign group analysed data from the Environment Agency for 2021 on the extent of raw sewage emissions in the Thames. It also looked at the agency’s database of investments made by water companies.
Hull stated that the government, Thames Water, and the Environment Agency continue to tell us that they are addressing the problem. The truth is simple. They are not.
Thames Water spokeswoman said that Thames Water was currently reviewing the ORIC Report. We will continue to strive to do the right things for our rivers, and for the communities that value them. We are against any discharges of untreated wastewater and will work closely with Ofwat, the government, and the Environment Agency in order to stop them. We also intend to be transparent.
Our river health commitments were launched recently. They include a 50% reduction of the annual duration of all spillages across London and the Thames Valley by 2030 and an 80% reduction within sensitive catchments. We still have a lot to do and we are not able to do it all on our own, but the goal is clear.