Water companies have logged five sewage spills a day, every day, for a decade, analysis by the Observer shows
Water companies in England and Wales have averaged five serious sewage spills into rivers or seas every day over the past decade, the Observer can reveal.
Analysis of Environment Agency data has found that the 10 firms recorded 19,484 category 1-3 pollution incidents between 2013 and 2022, the most recent year recorded, an average of one every four and a half hours.
Continue reading...Speaking at the UK River Summit, Philip Duffy said officials do not want to reveal the true ‘embarrassing’ environmental picture
The head of the Environment Agency has admitted that freedom of information requests have been buried by the regulator because the truth about the environment in England is “embarrassing”.
Philip Duffy, the body’s chief executive, told an audience at the UK River Summit in Morden, south London, this week that his officials were “worried about revealing the true state of what is going on” with regards to the state of the environment.
Continue reading...Southern Water says supplies coming back to St Leonards-on-Sea and Hastings now that rupture in woodland area has been fixed
Water has started to return to more than 30,000 homes in East Sussex after a main burst three days ago.
Southern Water said in an update on Sunday afternoon that supplies were “gradually being restored” to about 32,5000 properties in St Leonards-on-Sea and Hastings.
Continue reading...Kennet Properties sells off Thames Water land, whose owner, Kemble Water, has warned it would not be able to pay a £190m loan
A development company that sells off land no longer needed by Thames Water has paid out a £14m dividend despite warnings that it could become engulfed by the embattled water group’s financial woes.
Accounts filed at Companies House show Kennet Properties paid out a £14.5m dividend during the year to 31 March 2023, despite the difficulties faced by the wider group, which is facing a potential administration.
Continue reading...Controversial investment bank could play important role in fate of Britain’s biggest water firm
The Australian investment bank Macquarie, which has been criticised for its role in the privatisation of England’s water industry, is understood be among lenders to Thames Water’s troubled parent company.
The former Thames Water shareholder could, along with other lenders, play an important role in determining the fate of Britain’s biggest water company, after its parent company Kemble Water Finance defaulted on its debt.
Continue reading...Fall to 14.4p comes after shareholders said they were unwilling to inject further funds
A bond issued by Thames Water’s parent company has fallen to record lows as the embattled company scrambles to secure its future, and the government signalled it is “ready to step in if necessary”.
The £400m bond, issued by the water supplier’s parent company, Kemble, has slumped to only 14.4p after shareholders indicated that they were unwilling to inject further funds into the heavily indebted utility company.
Continue reading...Crunch talks expected after investors refuse to secure short-term cashflow and parent company due to repay £190m loan
Thames Water has assembled a team of City experts to lead urgent restructuring talks this week amid fears that its parent company may collapse by the end of the month.
The crunch talks are expected to take place days after Thames Water’s investors signalled they would not put further funds into the company to secure its short-term cashflow, according to a source.
Continue reading...Decision raises concerns about financial future of UK’s biggest water firm and increases prospect of nationalisation
Investors at Thames Water have pulled the plug on £500m of emergency funding, raising concerns about the financial future of the country’s largest water company and increasing the prospect of nationalisation.
The beleaguered utilities company announced this morning that its shareholders had refused to provide the first tranche of £750m funding set to secure its short-term cashflow, after the company had failed to meet certain conditions.
Continue reading...Prof Sir John Curtice, the psephologist and lead election analyst for the BBC, said the chances of a Tory revival were small
In the House of Lords peers have just started debating the second reading of the leasehold and freehold reform bill. The bill has already passed through the Commons.
Normally, at this stage of the process, the content of a government bill is all but finalised. But, as No 10 admitted on Monday, the government has still not decided how far it will go in terms of cutting ground rents for existing leaseholders.
Continue reading...The sewage treatment works at Horley seem to be crumbling, much like owner Thames Water itself
The brochure boasts of a family-friendly community located in tranquil green space within easy reach of high-speed links to London.
However, the residents of a new development of 1,500 homes in Horley, Surrey, have recently set up a WhatsApp group, whose title illustrates a less attractive feature of the community: Stop the Poo.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Sarah Olney to press in parliament for details of scheme being drawn up in event of supplier’s collapse
Ministers must come clean on the secret details of an emergency plan for a taxpayer bailout in the event of Thames Water collapsing, a Liberal Democrat MP has said.
Sarah Olney will press in parliament this week for details of a behind-the-scenes rescue operation being drawn up for the biggest privatised water company in England. Olney said keeping the details of the contingency plan secret amounted to a cover-up.
Continue reading...Huge amounts of raw sewage were discharged into the river between November 2019 and February 2020
Severn Trent has been fined more than £2m for polluting the River Trent near Stoke, with the Environment Agency calling its storm contingency plans “woefully inadequate”.
Huge amounts of raw sewage were discharged into the river from Strongford wastewater treatment works near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, between November 2019 and February 2020.
Continue reading...Company faced public backlash over scheme, which campaigners say threatens to increase river pollution
Thames Water is bypassing local democracy to attempt to push through a controversial water recycling project that campaigners say threatens to increase pollution in the river.
Steve Barclay, the secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, has agreed to an application by the water company to consider its Teddington water recycling scheme under national infrastructure rules. The decision means local authorities will be bypassed, and the secretary of state will make the decision whether to grant a development consent order.
Continue reading...It looks as if USS simply overpaid and underestimated the effort and catch-up investment required
“We continue to view Thames Water as a long-term investment,” said the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), the £75bn pension fund for UK academics, as it wrote down the value of its stake in the Thames’ parent by nearly two-thirds, or almost £600m. Top marks for cheerfulness, but it’s a line that recalls the old joke about the definition of a long-term investment: a short-term investment gone wrong.
USS and Canadian pension fund Omers, the other late arrival on Thames’ register in 2017 (they replaced the departing Macquarie and its co-travellers), surely cannot have imagined that the long term would stretch quite so far over the horizon. As USS says, it’s taken no dividends so far, and the current business plan imagines no income for shareholders until 2030 at the earliest. That’s a near-eternity in investment terms for utility assets, which are supposedly prized for their ability to generate steady cash.
Continue reading...Former British Gas executive tasked with leading turnaround in face of debts and controversy over sewage
Thames Water has appointed a former British Gas executive as its new boss with a pay package of up to £2.3m a year and tasked with leading a crucial turnaround as it faces mounting debts and controversy over dumping sewage in Britain’s waterways.
Chris Weston replaces Sarah Bentley, who resigned with immediate effect in June amid a backlash over the firm’s poor environmental track record. Weston will take up the role on 8 January.
Continue reading...Cost of debt rises for firm that left thousands of customers without running water in summer
South East Water, which left thousands of customers without running water this summer, has paid out dividends of £2.25m over six months while overseeing increased losses of £18.1m before tax.
The water company, which serves customers in Kent, Sussex, Berkshire and Surrey, made the payout to shareholders despite facing huge rises in the costs of its £1.4bn debt mountain, its half-year report showed on Thursday. In the six months to 30 September, the cost of serving the debt rose by £7.4m to £54.8m, as inflation and higher interest rates bit.
Continue reading...Company announces plunge in profits after being told by auditors it could run out of money by April
The ailing utilities firm Thames Water has said it is taking “immediate and radical” action to turn around the business, days after it emerged its auditors had warned it could run out of money by April.
The debt-laden water supplier said it was working on a three-year turnaround to overhaul its environmental, operational and financial performance, as profits more than halved to £246m in the six months to 30 September, largely due to changing valuations of its assets.
Continue reading...Thames Water has provided bottled water to people in Guildford, Godalming and surrounding areas
Thousands of people have been left without water after Storm Ciarán caused problems at a treatment works in Surrey, Thames Water has said.
A major incident was declared as at least 13,500 homes in Guildford, Godalming and the surrounding areas were left without water or with low pressure by 2.50pm on Sunday, while a further 6,500 were expected to lose supply later in the day.
Continue reading...National Infrastructure Commission says public transport, home heating and water networks all in need of renewal
The UK’s infrastructure needs a big cash injection, with public transport, home heating and water networks all in dire need of renewal, independent government advisers have said.
The investments, of about £30bn a year from the taxpayer and £40bn to £50bn a year from the private sector, would result in savings to the average household of at least £1,000 a year, higher economic productivity, and a better quality of life in the future, the National Infrastructure Commission said.
Substantial investment in public transport for England’s biggest cities must be accompanied by restrictions on car access to alleviate congestion.
Hydrogen must not be used for home heating, despite government enthusiasm for the technology. Hydrogen should be exploited for use in heavy industry.
People on lower incomes should have heat pumps installed free, while the other two-thirds of households should receive subsidies of £7,000 each for their installation. Upgrading homes with high levels of insulation is not needed before installing heat pumps.
Water meters should be compulsory for households and businesses.
No new waste incinerators should be built, and recycling rates need to improve.
The decision to cancel the northern leg of HS2 was “deeply disappointing” and “leaves a major gap in the UK’s rail strategy”. Armitt said it would result in an “overload” of the west coast mainline, or encourage more people and freight on to the roads.
Continue reading...Sober assessment of UK failings from body set up by a Conservative chancellor poses ideological problem for government
The cost of upgrading the UK’s infrastructure to make it fit for the future is likely to be £30bn a year of public money, plus about £40bn-50bn a year of private sector investment, the National Infrastructure Commission has said.
That figure of £30bn is strikingly similar to the Labour party’s promised investment of £28bn a year to meet the UK’s net zero targets, shift the economy permanently to a low-carbon footing, and create new green jobs.
Continue reading...