Thames Water may have shut down an emergency drought plant to save electricity costs, the local MP has said.
The desalination plant in Becton, east London, has been shut down despite water shortages and a looming hosepipe ban, the Telegraph revealed earlier this week.
The first hose ban comes into effect today for people living in parts of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight supplied by Southern Water.
South East Water, which supplies parts of Kent and Sussex, will introduce a hose ban affecting 1.3 million people from next Friday, and Welsh Water has also announced a ban covering parts of west Wales.
George Eustice, the environment secretary, is believed to be on annual leave in his constituency of Cornwall rather than Westminster as the drought crisis deepens.
A spokesman said on Friday afternoon: “George Eustis is in his Camborne and Redruth constituency but has been liaising with Defra policy officers about the drought conditions and held a meeting with the policy team at 11am this morning.”
The Thames Water plant, which is designed to take water from the Thames estuary and process it to create drinking water, is not running for maintenance, despite being included by the company in drought plans submitted to the Environment Agency earlier this year year.
Desalination is energy intensive, requiring both electricity and heat. Electricity costs have risen by about 50 percent since last year.
“Very strange that it doesn’t work”
The plant costs more than ten times more to run than standard wastewater treatment facilities, the company said, at around £660 per million litres, compared to £45 per million liters for a standard plant.
Stephen Timms, MP for East Ham, said: “It seems puzzling to me that when we are obviously in a situation which is exactly what this plant is designed to help us in, it seems very strange that it is not working.
“If maintenance is scheduled, then surely you are scheduling a time other than when it is most likely to be used?”
“Is it because of the cost of electricity for him and they just don’t want to pay and let him go?” In that case, obviously, they should tell us.
In its draft drought plans, setting out how the company plans to deal with low water supplies, Thames Water admitted the plant could only handle two-thirds of its planned capacity.
The plant has operated only intermittently for the last 10 years of its life, including in 2016 and 2018.
It has now stopped working entirely and will not be available to help with water supplies this summer as the south east of the UK faces rapidly depleting water levels amid continued dry weather.
Capacity issues are believed to be due to the plant’s estuary location and the fluctuating salt levels that result.
The large flows of more than 100 million per day through the plant produce water with too much sediment, which reduces the effectiveness of the disinfection process.
In documents released earlier this year, the company said “demand management,” including a push for household water meters, public awareness of water-saving measures and leakage management, would offset the lost capacity.
Ongoing maintenance is focused on fixing piping and electrical systems, the company said, as part of a planned £34m project.
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