Thames Water on course to run out of money by March

Thames Water has said it will run out of cash by next March if it fails to secure a £3bn financial lifeline, as it admitted its sewage spills had risen sharply.

- Anna Isaac Helena Horton

Britain's biggest water supplier said yesterday that all of its funds may be "exhausted" if it failed to secure the emergency funding from its creditors, putting it at risk of temporary nationalisation.

The heavily indebted company recorded a 40% increase in the number of pollution incidents in the six months to 30 September. Thames reported 359 category one to three pollution incidents in that period, blaming an especially wet spring and summer.

The industry has faced public outcry over sewage spills into seas and waterways. The Thames Water chief executive, Chris Weston, said that after "record rainfall and groundwater levels in our region, pollution and spills are unfortunately up".

Thames faces two critical court dates, on 17 December and 20 January, in order to secure approval for the money - referred to as a "liquidity extension" - which some creditors have already agreed to lend.