Thames Water: Another Damning Report

Last week, the Environment Agency (EA) published its 2025 Environmental Performance Report for water companies in England.

For Thames Water (TW), it was a familiar result, a one-star rating for the second consecutive year.

The findings are damning:

• 464 pollution incidents – the highest number recorded by any water company.

• 24 serious pollution incidents - almost twice as many as the next worst-performing company.

• Just 24.5% of environmental improvement schemes were completed on time, the worst across the industry.

• Only 88.2% compliance with discharge permits at sewage treatment works, against an industry average of 97%. The lowest percentage since ratings began.

• Four out of six environmental protection metrics rated red - the highest number TW has received since assessments began.

Behind those figures is the continued damage being done to our chalk streams and the delicate ecosystems that depend on them. And, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, customers across Newbury and West Berkshire are still being asked to pay for Thames Water’s persistent failures.

Since being elected, holding the company to account has been one of my top priorities. I’ve written to Ministers and Thames Water repeatedly, submitted parliamentary questions, signed EDMs and cross-party letters, and worked locally to push for better monitoring and infrastructure improvements. And I’ll keep doing so.

In the report, the Chair of the EA says he is “optimistic” issues will be addressed in the years to come. I’m afraid I don’t share that confidence. Unless the industry is fundamentally reset and Thames Water is placed into a Special Administration Regime (SAR) immediately, I can’t see how customers can have confidence that anything will really change.

Just last week, TW was asking creditors again for a further £2.4 billion in emergency funding to stay afloat. After approving 15 previous requests, this is yet another short-term fix, while customers across Newbury and West Berkshire continue to see 28% of their bills continue to go straight to servicing the company’s debt.

Over the summer, the Prime Minister promised to bring “the essentials of  life” under public control, and while the Environment Secretary may now be setting out a “clear set of improvement actions” for each company, we are still waiting for the fundamental reset the industry needs.

So ahead of further details expected later this year in the Government’s 10-year plan for Britain, discussions around different ownership options cannot become another reason to delay action.

As the Liberal Democrats have made clear for months, the necessary and immediate choice still sits in front of the PM: remove Thames Water’s licence and place the company into special administration. So far, it’s a choice he continues to avoid.

With the imminent introduction of a Clean Water Bill to Parliament this winter, I’ll continue to use every opportunity in Parliament, alongside my Liberal Democrat colleagues, to push the Government to finally deliver the fundamental change our water system needs.