Thames21’s response to Ofwat penalty proposal

Thames21 welcomes the news of a public consultation on record fines for water companies who have breached rules on sewage pollution.

“But higher penalties are not in themselves enough to fix the problem.

“The Government should set more ambitious and immediate targets for greater investment in improving and maintaining sewerage infrastructure.  We also expect Thames Water and other water companies to demonstrate greater leadership in restoring the health of the River Thames and its tributaries through greater investment in infrastructure as well as building stronger partnerships to deliver solutions throughout our catchments to protect people and our wildlife.

 “We want to see better enforcement, with properly funded environmental protection agencies that take firm action against polluters and incentivise them to prevent sewage pollution in the first place. We also want to see increased water quality monitoring to provide more accurate, robust and transparent data so that pollution can be identified and tackled promptly.