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River Thames: Pollution Control

Question for Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

UIN 7426, tabled on 18 December 2023

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to help reduce pollution in (a) the Thames and (b) Beverley Brook.

Answered on

8 January 2024

The Government published the Plan for Water in April 2023 – our comprehensive strategy for managing our water environment, including our rivers. It brings together the significant steps we have already taken with a suite of new policy actions. It aims to change the way that we manage water, improve water quality, and continue to secure our water supply.

The Plan for Water is underpinned by three main things:

  1. Increased investment for improvements – including £2.2 billion from water companies to spend on new and better infrastructure in the next two years, more funding for catchment-scale groups, and increasing slurry grant funding for farmers.
  2. Strong regulation – including more Environment Agency (EA) inspections of wastewater treatment works, banning plastic wet wipes (subject to consultation) and new restrictions of ‘forever’ chemicals that damage our waters.
  3. Tougher enforcement – including bigger penalties for water companies and tighter control over water company dividends.

The EA both responds to and investigates serious pollution incidents, such as the extensive work mitigating the impact of a category 1 oil spill in March 2022. There have been no serious (Cat 1&2) pollution incidents on the Beverley Brook since then.

The EA permits discharges to the Beverly Brook to control and improve water quality. There is one large continuous discharge which is treated final effluent from Hogsmill Sewage Treatment Works to increase river flow and prevent it drying up. There are five permitted, combined sewer overflows which discharge storm sewage after heavy rainfall. None of these have significant environmental impact. Other sources of pollution are road run-off and misconnected domestic properties.

The EA works with partners to remove pollution sources entering rivers. ‘Outfall Safaris’ are taking place to assess possible pollution inputs and these are managed by the Zoological Society of London and supported by the EA, South East Rivers Trust, and members of the public. These are investigated by Thames Water and rectified, often aided by the Local Authority. In 2022, three outfall improvements were completed with a further two this year and seven more identified.

Monitoring by the EA over many decades shows that general water quality of the tidal Thames has been improving with increased regulation of sewage treatment. Harm however can still be done to the river by storm sewage discharges after rainfall. The London Tideway Tunnels will begin to receive flow in 2024 capturing the majority of these sewage spills, further protecting our aquatic habitat.

The EA recognises that the performance of the water sector is not where it needs to be, and that robust regulation is a key element of the required improvement. That is why in June 2023, the EA launched its Water Industry Transformation Programme, outlining that it would be transforming the way it regulates the sector, embedding a new approach that targets resource and interventions to uncover non-compliance and drive better performance from the water industry. This includes looking at how incidents are investigated and how they are categorised.

The EA will soon have new powers to deliver civil penalties that are quicker and easier to enforce.

Actions that the EA is taking as the water industry regulator are set out in the annual water company performance report, published 12 July 2023.