Water companies: £180m investment promised by firms to prevent 'decades-old issue' of sewage spills - but Thames Water is absent

Water companies are to use artificial intelligence (AI) to prevent sewage spills as part of £180m “fast-tracked investment”, the Environment Secretary Steve Barclay has announced today (Monday 11 March). The investment is expected to prevent more than 8,000 sewage spills polluting English waterways.

The measures within the investment include AI systems to help manage storm loads, the installation of thousands of new in-sewer monitors to check flows and spot blockages early, the recruitment and training of specialist staff, and accelerated wetland construction programmes. The new funding commitments are in addition to water companies’ existing £3.1 billion investment into storm overflow improvements for this price review period (2020-2025), as well as their ongoing annual investment to maintain the performance of the existing network.  

Environment Secretary Steve Barclay said the investment is a “welcome step forward as we continue to push for better performance from water companies and hold them to account.” He added that it will build “on significant work by this government to protect and strengthen our waters with increased investment, stronger regulation and tougher enforcement action.”  

The accelerated improvements are expected to be delivered by April 2025. However it has been met with fierce criticism from sewage campaigners. Environmental group Surfers Against Sewage posted on X, formerly Twitter: “Can you really claim to be ‘fast-tracking investment’ on a decades-old issue? With more than 300,000 spills a year, the spills this announcement boasts it will prevent are a drop in the ocean in the deluge of pollution flooding our rivers and seas.”

Anglian Water will receive £50m in funding, Severn Trent £41m, Southern Water £10m, South West Water £32m, United Utilities £39m, and Wessex Water £8m. Severn Trent water is receiving £41 million in funding this year despite being ordered to pay a fine of more than £2 million last month after a court heard that in excess of 470 million litres of raw sewage was discharged into the River Trent between November 2019 and February 2020.

Notably, Thames Water is absent from the list and has not taken part in the drive. The Guardian reports that it is understood that government officials are disappointed in the water firm’s refusal.

The Guardian understands that Thames Water has said it is unable to accelerate its investment despite the government request. It comes as its finances are already under close scrutiny after it announced last year that its debt had swelled to £14bn and its auditors have warned that it could run out of money by April if shareholders do not inject more cash. 

Last month it was reported that the water firm had been lobbying the government and regulators to let it increase bills by 40% and lower fines for breaches to avoid a bailout. Contingency plans have been put in place by the government in case Thames Water collapses.

Thames Water says it regards "any untreated discharges as unacceptable, and are committed to stopping them from being necessary, and were the first company to say publicly that they are unacceptable." It adds that it is building the Thames Tideway Tunnel which will remove 24 combined sewer overflows from the tidal Thames, and has published plans to upgrade over 250 of its sewage treatment works and sewers. The firm is currently projecting that it will spend £0.9 billion more than it is permitted to recover from its customers, and its shareholders have already provided £500 million of additional equity. A further £750 million is expected based on meeting certain conditions.