Richmond Council calls for Government to step in over plan to pour treated waste water into Thames

A south London council has called for the Government to intervene over controversial plans to pour treated wastewater into the Thames.

Richmond Council is urging the Government to force Thames Water to re-examine a scheme which would see water near Teddington Weir swapped for treated effluent in a bid to combat drought.

The plan would involve taking water from the Thames above Teddington Weir via an underground tunnel to the Lee Valley reservoirs, and replacing it with treated wastewater from Mogden Sewage Treatment Works.

Nearly 27,000 residents have signed a petition against the plans over environmental fears.

However, Thames Water says it is the "cheapest" option available to provide enough water to increase London’s drought resilience to a once-in-200-years level.

It says that the scheme poses a “low risk to the environment” and that it would need an extra billion litres of water a day by 2075 to meet population demand and climate change.

Richmond Council leader Gareth Roberts said: “We recognise the urgent need to address the water shortages we will face in decades to come, but this Council will robustly resist any plans which we consider damaging to the river and to our own land, where better solutions are viable.

“We need the Government to force Thames Water to tell us what the other options are and be more transparent with everyone who has an interest in this.”

The council said it was concerned the plans would impact Ham Lands and Moormead Park, a nature reserve near the Thames, and have a detrimental impact on local wildlife.

The scheme would provide up to 75 million litres of water a day during droughts and dry weather,

Draft plans were submitted to the government last month, which stated the proposal was set to be delivered at the later time frame of 2033, to allow for extra monitoring and assessments.

Thames Water Strategic Resources Director Nevil Muncaster said in submitting the draft proposals that “bold decisions” were needed to “find ways to adapt to our changing climate, supply water to more people as our population grows, and reduce the amount of water we take from our rivers and chalk streams to protect the environment.”

It has also stressed that “there is no risk of untreated sewage entering the river” via the scheme, as it would be treated before discharge.