Statutory nuisance complaints filed against Thames Water

Communities across southeast England are filing the first coordinated legal complaints that sewage pollution by Thames Water negatively affects their lives.

- Sandra Laville

Thames Water failed to complete upgrades to 98 treatment plants and pumping stations that have the worst records for sewage pollution into the environment, despite a promise to invest in them over the last five years.

People in 13 areas including Hackney in east London, Oxford, Richmond upon Thames and Wokingham are sending statutory nuisance complaints to their local authorities demanding accountability from Thames Water and urgent action.

At several sites it is not just raw sewage from storm overflows that causes pollution but also the quality of treated effluent coming from Thames Water facilities, which presents a direct threat to public health, the campaigners say.

At Thames Water's Newbury sewage treatment plant, raw effluent discharges into the River Kennet, a protected chalk stream. Data shows raw sewage discharges from the plant increased by 240% between 2019 and 2024, from 482 hours to 1,630 hours. Thames says the plant is among its 26 most polluting sites.