Thames Water has once again been pumping sewage into the River Misbourne around Amersham and The Chalfonts.
Following a period of heavy rain, the water company began discharging sewage into the river from Sunday, January 5.
A licence provided by the Environment Agency allows Thames Water to discharge sewage into the river during periods of heavy rainfall, however residents are worried about the amount of sewage going into the river during the winter months.
Chalfont St Giles Parish Council shared on their social media: “Please take extra precautions when walking by the river and do not allow your dogs to enter the water.”
Last month, Thames Water bosses shared a “hard message” with Sky News that eliminating all pollution incidents in the Thames Water network will be “almost impossible”.
A few months ago, councillor Diane Holden said the release of sewage into the river “represents a failure by both regulator and the government” after sewage was pumped into the stream near Gerrards Cross for over 400 hours.
A Thames Water spokesperson said: “While all storm discharges are unacceptable, the sewage system was historically designed to work in this way, to prevent sewage backing up into people’s homes.
“We are committed to seeing waterways thrive, but we can’t do it alone. Farming, industry, road runoff, wildlife and increasingly extreme weather also play a role in river health.
“We have clear and deliverable plans to upgrade 250 of our sites to increase treatment capacity and reduce the number of storm discharges. This includes Gerrards Cross Sewage Treatment Works.
“As infrastructure ages and demand on it increases, more investment is needed across the entire sector.”
Photo: Chalfont St Giles Parish Council
This is shocking and totally unacceptable! Thames Water has been an unmitigated dusaster since privatisation and it is on record that they have admitted there has been zero investment in infrastructure since then. The only way forward out of the mess we are in, is re-nationalisation. Without clean water we can’t survive and for a first world country our rivers are a national disgrace!
Your brilliant article starts with “Following a period of heavy rain, the water company began discharging sewage into the river from Sunday, January 5”. But this is a little misleading – as we all know discharges occur frequently (see attached chart @tom-b2.bsky.social), and not necessarily at periods of heavy rainfall – their system is incontinent.
You also mention that the Environment Agency allows such discharge during periods of heavy rainfall. However, I can’t find any definition of heavy rainfall, sometimes it’s once in 10 or 3 years storms, or even at a level that the system cannot cope with!
It follows that many of these discharges are illegal and can be regarded as fly-tipping sewage into rivers. We are paying for this fly-tipping service and in any other situation could be prosecute for it.