A London MP has slammed the Environment Agency after it said white foam spotted in the River Thames she called “disgusting sewage” was not pollution but a natural occurrence.
Sarah Olney hit out after footage on Wednesday morning showed white foam in the water that was believed to be sewage at Teddington Lock, south-west London, which is popular with wild water swimmers.
Ms Olney said it was “absolutely disgusting and a clear environmental hazard”.
An Environment Agency (EA) spokesman said on Thursday: “A specialist officer found no sign of harm to the environment after an online report of white foam on the surface of the River Thames at Teddington.”
The EA added that it has not received any reports of suspected pollution in the Thames in the Teddington area, and believed the foam was a natural occurrence.
But Ms Olney, Lib Dem MP for Richmond Park, responded: “Local people know sewage when they see it, and it is sad to see the government’s Environment Agency is taking the side of water firms on this.
“With 72 billion litres of raw excrement having been pumped into the Thames in London since 2020, it is clear an environment disaster is taking place in the capital.
“For too long, Conservate Ministers have let water companies get away with polluting our waterways. It is time for them to step up and face up to what they have done and crack down on these polluting giants.
“Enough is enough, it is time to force polluting water companies to pay for the damage they have done.”
According to an online map of discharges provided by the Thames Water, there have been no discharges of effluent in the area recently.
However, Ms Olney pointed to a discharge upstream near Esher sewage works, which data records as overflowing for nearly a week, meaning “there could be sewage in this section of the watercourse.”
“For too long, water companies have been allowed to get away with pumping raw sewage into our rivers whilst this Conservative Government has turned a blind eye,” she said.
“Thames Water keeps promising to clean up its act, but their commitments are worth about as much as the stuff they keep dumping in the river.
“How much longer are Ministers going to let these polluting giants get away with it? It is high time we introduced a sewage tax to make water companies pay for the damage they’ve done.”
A Thames Water spokesperson said on Wednesday evening the video “hasn’t been officially verified” and that storm discharges had not taken place recently near to the lock.
However, they conceded that data suggested sewage works at Esher had been “impacted by heavy rainfall in recent days”.
“We are working hard to make these discharges unnecessary and have published plans to upgrade over 250 of our sewage treatment works and sewers to treat the high volumes of incoming sewage and reduce the need for overflows during wet weather, including plans to upgrade our Esher and Gerrards Cross sites,” said the spokesperson.
“We regard any untreated discharges as unacceptable, and we’re committed to stopping them from being necessary.
“Storm overflows are designed to operate automatically when the sewer network is about to be overwhelmed which then releases diluted wastewater into rivers, rather than letting it back up into people’s homes.”
Thames Water has been repeatedly criticised over its performance following a series of sewage discharges and leaks.
Data obtained under Freedom of Information laws last year revealed it had dumped at least 72 billion litres of sewage into the River Thames since 2020.
The water company says it is investing in modern infrastructure to make the discharges unnecessary, such as the £4.5 billion Thames Tideway Tunnel.
The public can report suspected pollution to the Environment Agency’s 24-hour incident hotline on 0800 807060.
