Forum Topic

Thames Water sewage plan - petition

Making sure everyone saw this:Hi everyone, you’re probably all aware of the campaign against Thames Water who are planning on getting approval to dump 75 million litres of semi-treated sewage in the river on a daily basis. This will destroy the area of river around Kingston/Teddington.  This message is to be spread as far and wide as we all can.  If we want to safeguard our  water please spend a minute signing this government petition. We need 100,000 signatures which is monumental. Anyone with an email can sign the petition. We need every possible signature please. Petition: Ensure new sewage treatment infrastructure meets higher standards as in the EUWe urge the government to review the regulations for new sewage treatment infrastructure and introduce new legislation to ensure high international standards are met; to safeguard people’s health, better protect all water bodies and reduce damaging long term impacts.https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/763721 For anyone who hasn’t seen this, I thought it was well worth signing and hopefully people can share with West London friends and neighbours - this will impact our area of Thames as well.

Davey Harris ● 7d15 Comments

I don't think he's taken the job to clear up the mess that the others have created before him he's taken it to keep the shareholders happy.

Brian Green ● 10h

Somebody has to do this job and what do you think the future is of and for this job?

Philippa Bond ● 12h

To be honest, if Steve Buck could turn round Thames Water, he'd be worth every penny.But it's one big massive if, and I won't be holding my breath.

Andrew Jones ● 19h

https://38d.gs/vqroThames Water has just handed its new finance chief, Steve Buck, a £1 MILLION “golden hello”. That’s right: a million quid for a boss at a company drowning in £20 billion of debt and dumping sewage into our waterways.You couldn’t make it up. That £1 million could have been spent lowering our bills, investing in much-needed infrastructure or cleaning up the mess they’ve caused, not lining the pockets of another highly paid boss. Water companies seem to think they can keep getting away with this, and top execs keep accepting the cash. Well guess what? We’ve got a chance to show them how we really feel. A massive petition demanding Mr Buck gives back his big bucks, will cause a PR storm and a chance for us to blow up this story with a people-powered backlash. Will you sign the petition demanding Steve Buck gives back his £1 million handout and the money put towards fixing Thames Water’s mess instead? If they thought this would go under the radar, they’ve got another thing coming…

Davey Harris ● 1d

The website above is a call for action by those who were involved in investigating and working out what was happening on their part of the river - the Windrush (a tributary of the Thames) - and making the Channel 4 documentary Dirty Business which showed what was happening.  The documentary is still free to stream and for anyone who has not seen it:it is here:https://www.channel4.com/programmes/dirty-business There is also the Govt White Paper - which was debated in January here:https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2026-01-21/debates/E058058E-65AC-455A-ABEC-7CC9DCA41631/WaterWhitePaper

Philippa Bond ● 3d

Marketing hype - especially when sweet fizzy drinks aren't good for us and they need to sell us something, people who don't trust their water supply, or don't trust and know we are lucky and have good tap water, people who just want convenience, and some people who just prefer to do so.  Many people are happy with tap water.

Philippa Bond ● 3d

Maybe that's why 2billion litres of bottled water are sold in UK every year.

Janice Evans ● 3d

https://www.windrushwasp.org/sewage-pollution

Philippa Bond ● 3d

https://www.wearewater.org/en/insights/are-we-ready-to-drink-the-same-water-twice/

Philippa Bond ● 4d

https://wildfish.org/latest-news/the-water-industrys-answer-to-decades-of-failure-weaken-environmental-law/Water UK is the industry's representative. 

Philippa Bond ● 4d

https://www.thamesriverstrust.org.uk/the-thames-river-basin/over-abstraction/https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/hundreds-fall-ill-sewage-crisis-uks-best-beaches-5HjdfnM_2/https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/62/environmental-audit-committee/news/160246/chemical-cocktail-of-sewage-slurry-and-plastic-polluting-english-rivers-puts-public-health-and-nature-at-risk/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/09/environment-agency-insider-alleges-cover-up-sewage-sludge-farmlandThere is just no end of articles about cover-ups etc of one thing or another!

Philippa Bond ● 4d

Davey Harris - In my opinion calling the 75 million litres of water to be discharged into the River Thames by Thames Water as semi-treated sewage is both emotive and a wild exaggeration. Water Treatment Plants such as Mogden are designed to separate the solids from the liquids in sewage (through settling tanks), filter the resulting liquid and kill off the bacteria through natural ultra-violet and chemicals. Where do you think this treated water goes now? Treated water has been entering the river at Isleworth Ait for many years and at times I am told this accounts for as much as a third of the water in this tidal stretch of the Thames.As I understand it the already treated water (not semi-treated sewage) will be added to the 5,200 million litres that already flows daily through that part of the river.https://www.thameswater.co.uk/about-us/regulation/strategic-water-resource-solutions/teddington-direct-river-abstraction

Sam Hearn ● 6d

This is shocking and unacceptable.I have signed.  Just to let everyone know, a lot of signatures are needed.  It is up to 36,477 as of now.

Tracy Jenkins ● 6d

Happy to sign this petition.I wonder how many people who voted for Brexit will be signing it?

Andrew Jones ● 6d

Thank you for making us aware of this petition.

Martine Dismore ● 7d