Waverley Council Has ‘Deep Dissatisfaction’ with Thames Water’s Performance

Published on: 25 Feb, 2025
Updated on: 26 Feb, 2025

By Chris Caulfield local democracy reporter

and Martin Giles

There is “deep dissatisfaction” over Thames Water’s ability to protect people’s health, maintain essential services, and stop “persistent sewage discharges”.

Waverley Borough Council has called on the Government to take what it called urgent action over the privatised utility firm’s failures.

Steve Reed MP

It has questioned Thames Water’s ability to meet basic duties and has written to MPs, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Steve Reed, as well as the water company’s CEO, Chris Weston.

Thames Water has said that it manages the water supply for 16 million people and has an “ambitious business plan” to maintain safe high-quality drinking water and fix its ageing infrastructure.

Chris Weston, CEO of Thames Water, addressing a meeting in Godalming. On the right is Jeremy Hunt MP.

The council’s letter is said to express “deep dissatisfaction with Thames Water’s ability to maintain essential services, given its history of significant and repeated water supply failures affecting hundreds of households, an inadequate response to these failures, and persistent sewage discharges from storm overflows”, according to a statement released by the council.

Cllr Steve Williams

Cllr Steve Williams (Green, Binscombe & Charterhouse), WBC portfolio holder for Environment, said: “Thames Water’s persistent failures are unacceptable. Households have endured supply disruptions, environmental damage has escalated due to sewage discharges, and the company’s financial mismanagement has put the future of its services at serious risk.

“It is clear that urgent Government intervention is needed. Waverley Borough Council is calling for Thames Water to be brought into public ownership to protect residents, safeguard our environment, and ensure responsible management of this essential service.”

There were also worries raised about “the company’s alarming financial instability, with debts reaching approximately £19 billion as of December 2024, further casting doubt on Thames Water’s ability to deliver safe and efficient services.”

Waverley Borough Council has said it no longer has confidence in Thames Water’s ability to effectively manage its responsibilities and urged the Government to put the firm into special administration to ensure public interests are protected.

It also called water privatisation a failed experiment that should be brought back into public control to ensure greater transparency, accountability, and investment in critical infrastructure.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We are taking care of water for 16 million customers across the region, every single day.

Thames Water serves around 15 million customers with water supply and sewage treatment including Guildford. Guardian graphic sourced from Ofwat and Thames Water.

“We have an ambitious business plan for the next five years to help us meet our customers’ priorities which include maintaining safe high quality drinking water, ensuring security of water supplies, delivering further environmental improvements, and building greater resilience to help us address an ageing asset base, climate change and population growth.”

“Smart Sewers”

Part of their plans announced today is to introduce “Smart Sewers”, with 20,000 sewer monitors to help to prevent flooding and pollution incidents before they occur.

The monitors will allow blockages to be tackled before they cause issues for customers or the environment.

Surrey has 1,248 monitors contributing to the smart sewer system and 31,000 more monitors are to be installed by 2030, to continue making its sewers smarter.

Anna Boyles, Head of Environmental Performance at Thames Water, said: “At Thames Water, we are always looking at how we can use data and digital technology to improve the way we work and reduce the impact on our customers and the environment. Our smart sewer network is a major step forward in preventing blockages before they happen, and we are committed to expanding this work over the coming years.”

Thames Water cleared around 52,000 blockages caused by “sewer abuse” in 2024. The water company says the blockages are caused by items such as wet wipes, sanitary items and cotton pads that can’t break down. This can force raw sewage to back up drains, manholes and spill into watercourses. Thames Water’s advice remains to only flush the three Ps: pee, poo and toilet paper.

Earlier this month Godalming and Ash MP Jeremy Hunt called for “urgent and decisive” action” over the sewage crisis flooding in Alfold.

In a separate issue, water supply issues for Thames Water customers rumbled after a “multiple pipe burst” near Chiddingfold and Cranleigh impacted about 92 homes with water outages.