Thames Water to pay £104m fine as sewage poured into rivers

The investigation launched by regulating body Ofwat found that Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water were all at fault, and these companies have engaged in 'mismanagement of wastewater treatment works and the wider sewer networks'.

All three companies regularly discharged raw sewage from storm overflows, when these are only intended to be used for exceptional circumstances such as flooding.

The companies also failed to upgrade assets to meet the needs of the local area, failed to ensure they had the necessary processes in place to comply with limiting pollution requirements, and showed a strong correlation between high spill levels and operational issues at wastewater treatment sites.

The effect of this on counties like Wiltshire has been clear to see, as residents in areas such as Marlborough were urged to avoid the town river reserve when raw sewage was left to fester for over a month.

The effect of untreated sewage pouring into the rivers, as seen at Stonebridge River Reserve in Wiltshire. (Image: ARK)

This is the biggest sewage investigation that has ever been carried out and as a result of the shocking findings, Thames Water will now be fined £107 million.

Yorkshire Water has been fined £47 million and Northumbrian Water has been fined £17 million, which are both much smaller penalties than the one faced by Thames Water.

“Ofwat has uncovered a catalogue of failure by Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water in how they ran their sewage works and this resulted in excessive spills from storm overflows," said David Black, Ofwat's chief executive.

"Our investigation has shown how they routinely released sewage into our rivers and seas, rather than ensuring that this only happens in exceptional circumstances as the law intends.  

"The level of penalties we intend to impose signals both the severity of the failings and our determination to take action to ensure water companies do more to deliver cleaner rivers and seas.  

“These companies need to move at pace to put things right and meet their obligations to protect customers and the environment. They also need to transform how they look after the environment and to focus on doing better in the future. 

“Looking to the future we want to transform companies’ performance under our new price control that starts in April next year, so we reduce spills from sewage overflows by 44 per cent by 2030 compared to 2021 levels."  

Protestors have fought for months to try and hold Thames Water to account (Image: ARK)

As well as giving out harsh financial penalties, Ofwat is also looking to introduce enforcement officers which will require each company to fix the sewage issues in their area and comply with legal obligations.

This is a big job, as 67 per cent of Thames Water's wastewater treatment works with FFT permits were found to have capacity and operational issues.

16 per cent of its storm overflows associated with its wastewater treatment works were found to be in breach. 

Ofwat has made it clear that companies will not be able to recover the money for any proposed penalties from customers and that Ofwat will ensure that customers are not charged twice where additional maintenance is required. 

The regulating body has issued a statement making it clear that these three water companies are only the first incidents to have come to light in a much wider investigation, and that more work will continue looking into eight other water companies.

The other companies being investigated have not yet been named.