Thames Water announces plans to invest £1.8bn from 2025-2030 in new phase of work to further protect and improve river health in London
Thames Water has today announced an injection of £1.8 billion across the next five years (2025- 2030) to further protect and improve river health in London.
Thames Water’s £1.8bn investment will include work to:
- Significantly reduce discharges from 26 sewer overflows in London. This follows work to successfully connect 25 sewer overflows to the Thames Tideway Tunnel. The focus of work will now shift from the Thames to its tributaries, including the rivers Roding, Wandle, Lee and Brent
- Deliver improvements to river health including river restoration schemes and treatment works upgrades as part of the Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP).
- Renew and repair 14km of pressurised sewers known as rising mains to reduce the risk of pollution incidents affecting watercourses in the capital
- Increase the proportion of proactive maintenance at eight major London treatment works to protect the quality of the rivers to which they discharge.
The funding was announced at a landmark roundtable (Thursday 13 March), hosted by the Mayor of London with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), Ofwat, the Environment Agency, Thames Water, charities, business and campaigners who all share a common ambition to transform London’s rivers.
Further, Thames Water is announcing a new fund of £20m for community and environment groups to co-create, co-design and co-deliver solutions that improve river health across the Thames Water region.
The new fund builds on the pioneering Smarter Water Catchments programme on the River Crane in Ealing, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and Richmond. Set up by Thames Water in 2020, partners have already delivered more than 150 projects as part of a ten-year plan which has improved water quality, reduced flood risk and increased access and community engagement.
Chris Weston, CEO of Thames Water, said: “Like our customers, we care deeply about our rivers. Our sewage works upgrades, the Lee Tunnel and Thames Tideway Tunnel are already protecting the tidal Thames and reducing sewage discharges by 95%.
“Today marks the start of the next phase of improvements with a £1.8bn investment programme that shifts the focus from the Thames to its tributaries and includes a major new programme to reduce sewage overflows on the Roding, Wandle, Lee and Brent.
“We’re committed to the Mayor’s ambition for partnership working and I’m delighted to announce the launch of a new £20m fund for environment and community groups, whose work and insights are having such a positive impact on the health of our rivers.”
Further work to protect and improve the health of London’s streams and rivers between 2025 and 2030 will involve:
- Cleaning up more than 45 streams and rivers affected by pollution from 200 outfalls where private drains have been wrongly connected to rainwater sewers
- Recruiting new technicians and process scientists at its sewage works and increase the size of the pollution prevention team that visits homes, takeaways and restaurants.
- Increasing capacity to survey and clean sewers with a fleet of 10 extra CityFlex vehicles and crews.
- Installing c.28,000 sewer depth monitors to provide early warning of possible blockages, flooding and pollution risk so our teams can intervene before problems occur.