River Thames: Pollution

(asked on 12th July 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to minimise the levels of pollution in the River Thames.


Answered by
Rebecca Pow Portrait
Rebecca Pow
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
This question was answered on 21st July 2021

The Environment Agency is the primary regulatory authority to minimise pollution of the River Thames.

The Environment Agency regulates water companies, industry, business and farming activities through permitting of discharges which may directly or indirectly impact the river. Regulated water discharge activities include discharges from sewage treatment works and permits place restrictions on the quality and quantity of effluent discharged to the environment. The Environment Agency carries out compliance checks including data audits of permitted discharges. The Environment Agency continues to hold water companies to account, and has prosecuted Thames Water 10 times since 2017 with fines totalling £28.4 million.

The construction of the Lee Tunnel, completed in 2016, conveys storm sewage from the largest pumping station to the newly extended Beckton Sewage Treatment Works in West Ham. The construction of the Thames Tideway Tunnel, which will be connected to the Lee Tunnel, will operate as the London Tideway Tunnels and will capture the majority of flows from CSOs through London between Acton and Beckton. The completion of the London Tideway Tunnels will remove the majority of storm sewage discharges, resulting in better water quality, which the EA will monitor.

Thames Water's five sewage treatment works along the tidal Thames were enlarged by between 40-60% between 2010 and 2020. New discharge permits with tighter limits were issued and came into force in 2013. This has resulted in improvements in year-round water quality, which has encouraged aquatic life and made the river more resilient to polluting discharges.

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