Sewage poured into London’s rivers for almost 7,000 hours last year, the Standard can reveal, as the Government came under further pressure to take tougher action against the firms responsible.
The Thames saw 769 toxic spills lasting a total of 3,286 hours — more than 136 days. The River Roding, which flows through Essex and London and forms Barking Creek as it reaches the Thames, had the second highest number of sewage releases in the capital at 237.
In total 31 London waterways saw 1,809 discharges lasting 6,968 hours, Environment Agency data, scrutinised by the Liberal Democrats, shows.
Richmond Park MP Sarah Olney said: “These statistics are a dire indictment of this Government’s continued failure to outlaw sewage dumping and protect our local environment.
“Londoners have been forced to endure thousands of hours of sewage being pumped into their local waterways over the last year, yet instead of heeding their calls for action, ministers have put their heads in the sand to block calls for reform at every turn. [The Government] should be apologising to local people for allowing water companies to continually use their local rivers as a sewage dumping ground.
“How many river users will have to get sick before the Government finally sits up and takes notice?”
Thames Water, England’s biggest privatised water firm, has been hit with fines totalling tens of millions of pounds over the past five years for leaks of untreated sewage.
Chief executive Sarah Bentley has vowed to spend a record £1.6 billion over the next two years on upgrading sewage treatment works and sewers.
The £4 billion Thames Tideway Tunnel is also nearly complete and will capture “95 per cent of the volume of untreated sewage currently entering the tidal Thames in a typical year”, the company said.
Thames Water now provides a map of sewage discharges in the city, which is updated in real time.
The Government has already announced plans for unlimited fines for firms that dump sewage into rivers and seas.
Under further proposals announced this week, they will face legally binding targets to cut releases.
On average there were 825 sewage spills per day into England’s waterways last year, data shows. This was a fall of almost a fifth on the previous year, but the Environment Agency said the decrease was “largely down to dry weather, not water company action”.
Firms are allowed to release untreated sewage in “exceptional circumstances”, for example during heavy rainfall.
But they can be acting illegally if they pump sewage into rivers when the conditions are dry, or if they are not treating enough of the waste before dumping it.
Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey said that by 2035, water companies must cut spills to all designated bathing water and 75 per cent of high-priority sites, such as conservation areas.
A Thames Water spokesperson said: “Taking action to improve the health of rivers is a key focus for us and we want to lead the way with our transparent approach to data.
"We’re the first company to provide live alerts for all untreated discharges throughout our region.
“Of course, what matters most is stopping the need for the discharges and we’ve committed £1.6bn of investment in our sewage treatment works and sewers over the next two years.
“This will help us deliver our commitment to a 50 per cent reduction in the total annual duration of discharges across London and the Thames Valley by 2030, and within that an 80 per cent reduction in sensitive catchments.
“In London, we have started the £100m upgrade of Mogden sewage treatment works, which will increase capacity and reduce the number of storm discharges from the site, and we’re also spending £145m upgrading Beckton sewage works.
“We’re also currently increasing sewage treatment capacity at a number of our other sewage works across the Thames Valley, including Witney, Chesham and Fairford to be completed by 2025.”
