Thames Water: Man left critically ill in hospital with sepsis after taking a dip in the River Kennet

A man was left critically ill with sepsis after he waded into the River Kennet in Wiltshire. Gordon Pepper, who lives in the village of Mildenhall in the Kennet Valley, contracted the infection after paddling in the river and was in a sepsis ward for two days.

A campaign group called Action for the River Kennet discovered that untreated sewage had been flowing into the river at three points in Marlborough, and they believe Mr Pepper was infected by raw waste from a treatment works upstream. He told BBC News that he had grazed his foot on gravel and “woke up with a dippy tummy” the next day.

He added that his “vomiting got serious” and he “suddenly had the shakes”. Pepper’s right leg became swollen and he was taken to Great Western Hospital in Swindon. He added: “I get confused because the next thing I remember was waking up in the sepsis ward.”

Sepsis is a medical emergency and if left untreated it can kill. Thames Water said that pollutants could get into rivers and it was investing in sewage treatment works across the Thames Valley. When asked about Pepper’s case, a Thames Water spokesman said: “Pollutants, animal faeces, along with run-off from farms can contribute to hazards. We have planned investment in our sewage treatment works across the Thames Valley.”

It comes after schoolchildren were forced to abandon a day trip to the River Kennet on 20 June when “untreated human waste” began pouring into the water. Children from Preshute and Great Bedwyn primary schools were taking part in Action for the River Kennet’s (ARK) annual river school event, in Ramsbury. But the lesson was disrupted when sewage leaks at three different sites in the area caused the water to turn visibly brown. The leaks came after heavy rainfall caused an overflow at the Marlborough sewage treatment works.

Thames Water has been under scrutiny over the past year for the amount of sewage it discharges into rivers. Research by the BBC’s climate and data teams revealed in September that the firm dry-spilled for 1,253 hours in 2022 at 49 overflow sites.

On Monday (6 November) thousands of people are without water today after the firm declared a major incident due to issues at its Shalford treatment works. Around 20,000 people were left without water on Sunday (5 November) due to the outage followed by Storm Ciarán which battered the country last week.

On Sunday night Jeremy Hunt said he was very concerned and had spoken to the CEO of Thames Water, Cathryn Ross. Responding to his tweet on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, one user wrote: “Unreal, the state of our water companies and the wholesale neglect and impact on people and the environment is all on YOUR watch. Do something.” While another user posted on X: “How is this company still allowed to go on, time to nationalise it.”