Thames Water review

Thames 21 is a charity established 2 decades ago, emphasising ecosystem restoration through a collaborative approach.

With partners, they have pioneered the development and delivery of nature-based solutions to improve the quality of water which include constructed wetlands. These can be described as large sustainable drainage systems in public spaces, capable of treating pollution from the drainage area including sewage and road run off pollution. Communities are involved and have an input in these, which provides a community hub in addition to improvement of the green spaces.

The development of a road runoff solution pollution tool was noted by the panel. This tool is currently covering London but will be expanding to the Bracknell Forest Council area. This tool identifies pollution pathways into the river and guides and prioritises where and how nature-based solutions can be used to tackle road runoff pollution.

Catchment planning was noted as an important way of working. This includes specifically developing collaborative action across communities, authorities and non-government organisations (NGO’s) to drive implementation.

The catchment partnership had set up a working group for the Bracknell Town area, which included the involvement of some Bracknell Town Councillors, Borough Rangers and local community groups. This has led to local projects in the area that included:

• the outfall safari in 2022
• work on a successful bid for community action for the Cut, which focused on volunteer led days to restore a section of the watercourse that runs through Garth Meadows

Thames 21 should be brought into a cross-borough water and sewage partnership (recommendation 1) and provide information to Bracknell Forest Council (recommendation 2). 

Tools developed by Thames 21 should be incorporated into the water quality aggregation tool (recommendation 2).

Between 2013 and 2016, the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology was involved in a Research Council funded project which monitored river flow and water quality of the Cut in Bracknell. 

This data was made public. They set up models that simulated the hydrology of river flows and water quality, which would be capable of looking at the impacts of different management interventions. 

It was confirmed that the main focus of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology was at a national level and they would be applying for European coordinated funding programmes with a focus on green infrastructure, which was relevant for Bracknell Forest. There was also confirmation that as an organisation, the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology would be working with Thames Water to enhance understanding of pollution issues.

UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology should be brought into the cross-borough water and sewage partnership (recommendation 1) and provide information to Bracknell Forest Council (recommendation 2).

In response to sewage spills at Thames Water Sewage works in May 2023, a group of councillors visited the site, finding it fully automated with minimal staff. Regular water samples were taken to make sure the organic filtration process was working to a satisfactory level. This filtration system could be affected by chemicals. Storm water was managed in holding tanks and slowly released into the system when the flow was reduced. It was noted that there was one tank out of action which would need investment to be operational again.

During the visit, the Thames Water representative confirmed that the sewage works could handle a population of 250,000. However, it was pointed out that issues were arising from heavy rains and surface water that entered the system which resulted in discharges into the water course and environmental damage.

Data from the sewage treatment works should be incorporated into the water quality aggregation tool (recommendation 2).

In the witness session, Thames Water provided:

• a visual map of the sewage treatment works in Bracknell Forest
• sizes of each of the treatment works
• the principles of sewage treatment work operation

For sewage intake in excess of 70 litres per second, storage tanks are used. When the capacity of those is exceeded, mechanically but not biologically treated sewage is released into the water courses, in compliance with the operational rules. It became apparent that discharge of partially treated sewage is not an accident but part of the normal operation of the sewage plants.

The surface outfall water programme was discussed. This addressed the issue of foul water entering the surface water system. The outfall safaris identified polluted outfalls in partnership with community groups. Thames Water’s Environmental Protection Team would then undertake strategic long-term tracing upstream from each outfall to identify the pollution source. Property owners would then be asked to rectify the issue or in some cases enforcement from local authorities would be necessary.

A reporting tool emphasising the importance of timely problem reporting, was highlighted to the panel. The interactive storm discharge map, which identified when untreated sewage had been discharged from a sewage treatment work, was shown and it was explained that this highlighted to customers the unacceptable nature of releasing untreated sewage. Investment taking place at each of the sewage treatment works was presented with works due for completion across the sites ranging from:

• 2024 at Ascot
• 2025 at Sandhurst 
• 2026 at Aldershot, Camberley and Bracknell

Further improvements to Sandhurst would be scheduled for the next asset planning period of 2025 to 2030.

Thames Water confirmed that the improvements presented fall under the current business plan and are not affected by the current financial troubles. It was acknowledged they could be delayed. Beyond the current business plan was the draft plan for the next 5 years, 2025 to 2030. This plan was with the regulators who would respond and then a final plan would be produced.

In further discussion with Thames Water, it became apparent that the improvements are intended to reduce the sewage release events in number but are not capable of reducing them to zero or close to zero. While Thames Water acknowledged the aim to ultimately achieve zero releases, it remained unclear how this is to be attained. Providing more storage is apparently not the answer due to operational constraints.

The witness session also confirmed that Thames Water have very limited control about who connects to their sewage system as there is a “right to connect”.

Thames Water should be brought into a cross-borough water and sewage partnership (recommendation 1) and provide information to BFC (recommendation 2). 

BFC should seek exchange of information on local planning with Thames Water to make sure that waste water provisions are adequate in the context of local plans (recommendation 3). 

Tools developed by Thames Water should be incorporated into the water quality aggregation tool (recommendation 2). It was found that even a best-case scenario would still lead to discharge of untreated sewage under the DEFRA Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan (2023). The Executive should attempt to change this (recommendation 4).

The Environment Agency's Area Environment Manager discussed their role in protecting the environment and regulating Thames Water.

The role of protecting and improving the environment was shaped by key plans which included the government’s integrated plan for clean and plentiful water, published in 2023, and the Thames and river basin management plan. Both set out the current status of the water environment and priority actions going forward.

Ecological health of rivers was currently not good enough to reach the government’s 25-year plan target of 75% of water bodies reaching good ecological status. Pressures were diverse and complex and integrated action, with catchment-based partnerships, would be key for all relevant organisations.

None of the 6 river water bodies in the Bracknell Forest area had reached good ecological status. 

Key pressures were:

• continuous and intermittent water pollution
• physical habitat modification
• urbanisation

Regulation of water and sewage companies focussed on making sure water companies delivered the environmental responsibilities and covered 3 primary areas:

1. Assessment and reporting of water companies’ environmental performance. This covered key aspects resulting in a 1 (poor) to 4 (leading company) star rating. Thames Water received 2 stars in the 2022 assessment, which indicated they required significant improvement on environmental performance. Concerns were the number of pollution incidents and delay to environmental improvement schemes. 
2. Providing guidance on assessment of plans to protect and improve the environment. This included advice to government on a range of water companies’ plans. 
3. Determination of environmental permits and associated compliance of enforcement.

The Thames Water plan for the period 2025 to 2030 was recently submitted to Ofwat and set out plans to improve the environment which were critical to deliver key environmental improvements by 2030. Plans also included implementation of the storm overflow discharge reduction plan. These plans were being reviewed by the Environment Agency to assess if relevant environmental obligations were included and would be concluded by December 2024.

A range of enforcement activity was undertaken against Thames Water including successful prosecution of 17 Thames Water sites with fines totalling more than 37 million pounds. Live investigations were ongoing at a local and national level including criminal investigation into potential breaches of environmental permit conditions at over 2,000 sewage treatment works by all water companies. This indicates serious and widespread non-compliance of permit conditions.

There was ongoing investigation of storm overflow discharges. Event duration monitoring would be required by all storm overflows by the end of December 2024. The ecological status of rivers in the Bracknell Forest area is not acceptable. Issues are complex with no simple or quick solutions. Considerable planning and investigation would be required to resolve the issues. Ecological challenges in Bracknell Forest demand a comprehensive, integrated approach.

The Environment Agency should be brought into a cross-borough water and sewage partnership (recommendation 1) and provide information to Bracknell Forest Council (recommendation 2). 

Tools developed by the Environment Agency should be incorporated into the water quality aggregation tool (recommendation 2). 

It was found that even a best-case scenario would still lead to discharge of untreated sewage under the DEFRA Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan (2023), the Executive should attempt to change this (recommendation 4).

Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue reported to the panel that water rescue training could no longer take place in rivers or county locks due to the contamination and sickness caused by being in this water. They are now forced to rent out clean water sites such as Lee Valley or Cardiff to undertake training. This affects all stations across Berkshire.

If they have attended incidents involving open water sources equipment cleanliness and hygiene was an issue. All equipment would need to be thoroughly cleaned and decontaminated resulting in that appliance being out of action until completed. This would therefore block availability for any other call outs until cleaning was completed.

Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue will benefit from up-to-date information on water quality resulting from the implementation of recommendation 2.