Thames Water: Protestors demand halt to sewage spills

Protestors called on Thames Water to stop polluting local waterways

Banner-wielding protestors banging drums, pots and pans have demanded Thames Water clean up its act and stop spilling sewage into rivers.

A petition with more than 1,700 signatures was handed to West Berkshire Council at a meeting on Thursday night.

Newbury councillor Steve Masters said all of the 12 sewage treatment works in the district had suffered spills.

In a statement Thames Water said it regarded all discharges of raw sewage as "unacceptable".

The petition requested the council look at Thames Water's plans "to ensure our waterways are clean and healthy".

But it was rejected by the Conservative-led authority, which tabled its own motion also describing the level of sewage discharged by water companies as "unacceptable".

In November Thames Water was fined £4m after an estimated 500,000 litres of raw sewage poured into a stream in Oxford.

Protestor Fiona Gurr said: "Thames Water can afford to not give their shareholders a big dividend every year, they should sort out the sewage before it goes anywhere near our rivers."

Opposition councillors asked why local MPs voted down an amendment to the Environment Bill which would have forced water companies to "demonstrate progressive reductions in the harm caused by discharges of untreated sewage". 

'Fish not faeces'

Newbury MP Laura Farris and Wokingham's John Redwood both voted to defeat the bill. Reading West MP Alok Sharma did not vote.

Council leader Lynne Doherty said: "I don't think anyone will argue the level of sewage discharge is acceptable. Everybody wants fish not faeces."

In a statement Thames Water said: "We regard all discharges of untreated sewage as unacceptable and will work with the government, Ofwat and the Environment Agency to accelerate work to stop them being necessary."

The company also said it was committed to reducing the total annual duration of spills across the Thames Valley by half by 2030, and spending £5m over five years on projects in partnership with the Rivers Trust.

It was fined £2.3m in March 2021 for polluting a stream with sewage in Fawley Court Ditch in Henley-on-Thames in 2016.

And the company was also fined £20.3m in 2017 after it pumped 1.9bn litres of untreated sewage into the River Thames in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, killing fish and birds, in 2013 and 2014.