Sewage Pollution in Our Rivers
Witney Sewage Treatment Works.
It is the legal duty of water companies to treat sewage in all but exceptional circumstances.
So what went wrong?
Years of underinvestment and cash extraction to shareholders have left water company staff with difficult, sometimes impossible tasks.
Deliberate deregulation and a culture and policy of looking the other way allowed water company senior management teams to factor in often illegal pollution as a means to cope with undercapacity and failure - simply dump the excess.
Shocking, even unbelievable, words? - we can back all of them up with evidence from our extensive report library.
Thames Water's Church Hanborough STW outfall.
Treated sewage on the left complying with the permit while dumping untreated on the right, often illegally.
Thames Water is discharging huge quantities of untreated sewage
This is happening regularly, but only the most extreme pollution events result in fines. That is our government's policy - a choice.
Illegal pollution has therefore become a profitable alternative to investment.
Carterton Sewage Works dumping untreated sewage into the beautiful (until that point) Shill Brook
Sewage pollution has reached epidemic proportions and this brings public health risks.
It can even appear in a street near you - be very careful with this, it can bring very dangerous bacteria and some are resistant to antibiotics.
Yes, that is raw sewage - you can see the toilet paper - being splashed over houses and people by passing cars
We want our river back
It's more profitable to pollute than to act sustainably
An independent valuation report commissioned by Thames Water in 2024 said this (Page 91);
"Delayed Infrastructure Investments: Post-privatization, Thames Water focused on shareholder returns and managed its operations in a way that delayed long-term infrastructure investment.
The Company deferred necessary maintenance, which led to aging pipelines, higher leakages, and less efficient systems.
The Company has increasingly spent on emergency repairs, which are typically more expensive than scheduled maintenance leading to high operational costs."
Why is it like this?
WASP started investigating in 2017, with a blank canvas to follow the evidence. Everything we have uncovered points to the privatisation of water as the reason why companies have concentrated on financial engineering and cash extraction and neglected their real engineering duties. The captured regulators and successive governments just went along for the ride.
Before
River Windrush, near Burford, in 2010. The water is clear and the weed is abundant – ideal conditions for wildlife.
Photo by Adam Burton, July 2010
After
2020. It's the same spot, in similar conditions and time of year. But the water is grey and the weed has vanished -- taking with it the habitat and food for many animals.
A scene repeated in many rivers across the country.
Photo taken in August 2020
