05 Aug 2026
Photo credit: Sharon Waldron The Drinking Water Inspectorate has issued Thames Water a warning letter after finding “multiple and significant failures” in works that left a customer’s water supply mistakenly connected to a sewer in Kidlington, Oxfordshire. The letter, dated 23 July, follows the Inspectorate’s investigation into an incident that occurred on 4 March […]
05 Aug 2026
Photo credit: Gio L A group of Labour MPs and regional mayors has urged the prime minister to turn failing water companies into not-for-profit cooperatives, presenting the idea as a middle path between full nationalisation and the status quo. The proposal, set out in a report from the Good Growth Foundation, a think tank […]
30 Jul 2026
Photo credit: Sander Crombach None of London’s rivers is currently rated as being in good condition. That is the backdrop to a ten-year plan launched by the Mayor of London to clean up the capital’s waterways, backed by £1.8 billion of partner funding over five years. The Clean Rivers and Waterways plan brings together […]
23 Jul 2026
Photo credit: Luis Tosta The consortium of creditors that has effectively controlled Thames Water since its shareholders wrote down their investment in 2024 has put forward a revised rescue proposal aimed at averting nationalisation by the new Andy Burnham administration. Under the plan, ministers would be offered a golden share in the company, described by the […]
23 Jul 2026
Photo credit: Galina Kondratenko Thames Water’s Temporary Use Ban came into force at 00:01 on Thursday 23 July, taking the number of people affected by hosepipe restrictions across England and Wales to about 23 million, according to the Guardian. The ban applies across Thames Water’s entire drinking water supply area, covering roughly 10 million customers […]
25 Jun 2026
Photo description: Person in a long-sleeved orange blazer signing papers. Photo by Romain Dancre on Unsplash Thames Water has secured creditor approval for its eleventh consent request, allowing the company to draw a further £200 million in funding during June. The approval extends a key funding condition to 30 June 2026 and makes ancillary amendments […]
11 Jun 2026
Image description: A pole with a sign that says polling station. Photo by Phil Hearing on Unsplash Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester’s mayor and Labour’s candidate for the Makerfield by-election, has said public ownership of Thames Water is the right approach, citing the company’s pattern of regulatory failures and ongoing financial crisis. Speaking to Newsnight, he […]
04 Jun 2026
Image description: The pull handle on a lavatory. Image by Andrew Martin from Pixabay A hidden enforcement gap Misconnected household pipes, washing machines, dishwashers, sinks or toilets accidentally plumbed into surface water drains rather than the foul sewer, let untreated wastewater flow directly into rivers, streams and the sea. Although discharging foul water into a surface water […]
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