Thames Water dumped untreated wastewater for more than 68,000 hours in river systems around Oxford last year, activists said, arguing that the amount of money the company plans to spend to improve the situation is grossly insufficient.
The company has discharged raw wastewater into the River Thames and its tributaries, including the Windrash, Tema, Evenlod and Ok rivers 5028 times in 2021, according to data analyzed by the Oxford River Improvement Campaign (ORIC).
Using data from Thames Water and applying the Environmental Agency’s formula for the capacity needed for any treatment work, the participants in the campaign estimated that the 10 major wastewater treatment plants operating in the upper Thames area – from Didcott south to Morton-in-Marsh and Burton-on-the-Water in the Cotswolds – failed to clear the full sewage capacity of 1.1 million people.
Their calculations show that medical facilities in Oxford and Whitney can handle only 62% of the required capacity for the population, and the treatment facilities in Banbury are sufficient for only 49% of the required capacity.
The failure to invest in the capacity of the treatment plant has led to more raw wastewater in the rivers, campaign participants said. All 10 plants discharged wastewater into rivers in 2021 for an average of 11 hours per week. Oxford’s wastewater treatment plants released untreated wastewater in 892 hours in 2021, Swindon in 501 hours and Whitney in 935 hours.
Thames Water is investing in the improvement of four of the major treatment works and 11 smaller ones – just a third of the work that needs to be expanded to stop the run-off of wastewater into rivers, according to ORIC. When population growth is taken into account, investment plans cover only a quarter – 15 of the 57 – of curative activities that need investment by 2025.
“The simple truth is that Thames Water’s plans are completely inadequate,” said Mark Hull, a former water industry consultant and founder of ORIC. “Given the well-established and long-standing problems facing the upper Thames, it is scandalous that there are no appropriate and coordinated investment plans for the whole region.
“Themes Water and the government’s environmental agency have been failing to address this issue for many years. Their continuing poor performance is not true – especially since the industry’s financial regulator, Ofwat, has made it clear that they will not oppose the necessary investments.
A report released by ORIC on Wednesday found that even when Thames Water has planned to invest, capacity expansion may not be enough for the 2020s and 2030s. In Witney’s treatment plants, the investment will increase capacity by a 50% increase, but this will improve performance to just 93% of the required capacity based on the population in 2020, the report said.
Across the upper Thames in 2021, 102 wastewater treatment plants have been dumped into rivers. Forty-nine of them are discharged for more than 10 hours a week; and almost a quarter of the work is done for more than 1,000 hours a year.
The campaign team analyzed the scale of raw wastewater discharges in the upper Thames from the Environment Agency’s 2021 data. It also examined the Water Investment Agency’s database of water companies.
Hull said: “The government, the Environment Agency and Thames Water keep telling us that they are dealing with the problems. The truth is simple. They are not.”
A Thames Water spokesman said he was looking at the ORIC report: “Our goal will always be to try to do the right thing for our rivers and for the communities that love and value them. We consider all discharges of untreated wastewater unacceptable and will work with the government, Ofwat and the Environment Agency to speed up the work to stop their need and we are determined to be transparent.
“We have recently launched our commitments to river health, which include a 50% reduction in the total annual duration of floods in London and the Thames Valley by 2030, and within that an 80% reduction in sensitive watersheds. We have a long way to go – and we certainly can’t do it alone – but the ambition is clear. “
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