Camberley: Sewage storage tanks to be decommissioned

The Camberley sewage treatment works in Riverside Way caused problems for residents over the summer

Thames Water has decommissioned sewage sludge storage tanks after Camberley residents were "subjected to a miserable experience" in summer 2023.

A report released on Tuesday claimed residents were left in a "communication black hole" during the problems.

The smell came about because of Thames Water storing more than 200 tankers of excess sewage sludge at the Riverside Way wastewater treatment works.

Thames Water has apologised and said it was carefully reviewing the report.

The report, published by Ofwat and the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), is part of a series of research looking at customer experiences with water companies.

'Foul stench'

Mike Keil, CCW CEO, said: "People's anger and frustration is palpable having endured months of disruption to their daily lives, while being left with the impression Thames Water had gone into hiding.

"Much of this upset could have been avoided had the company kept residents regularly and clearly informed of what was going on instead of leaving a communication black hole."

Lynn Parker, senior director for casework, enforcement and customers at Ofwat, said the water company's handling of the incident and communication with customers were "unacceptable".

She added: "Camberley residents were subjected to a miserable experience last year when a persistent foul stench stopped them enjoying the summer in the way they would have wished."

A Thames Water spokesperson said the emergency sludge storage tanks on site would not be used to store sewage sludge again.

They added: "We are deeply sorry to our customers across Camberley who were impacted by abnormal levels of odour last summer.

"We acknowledge that we didn't deploy odour suppression equipment quickly enough and when we did set the equipment up, we encountered problems in running it continuously.

"We also accept that we could have communicated better with our customers and affected residents and are acting on those lessons learned.

"Furthermore, we'd like to reassure customers that we have decommissioned the emergency sludge storage tanks on site, so that they can't be used to store sewage sludge again."

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