Thames admits failings during ‘highly offensive’ odour incident

Thames Water has admitted to failing its customers after a “highly offensive” odour incident left many people with mental and physical health problems.

The UK’s largest water company says it accepts “full responsibility” after untreated sewage was left to fester at a treatment works for months.

A damning report into the incident in Camberley describes how thousands of residents were unable to go about their daily lives given the difficulty of avoiding an odour that permeated both indoors and outdoors.

The report – compiled by Ofwat and the CCW – also finds that Thames Water was too slow to act to suppress the odour and failed to adequately communicate with customers affected.

It adds that Thames’ actions were seen as being “suspicious” and deliberately “misleading” by affected customers who said they were “more angered” by this incident than they were by the Covid-19 pandemic.

On a scale of one to 10, customers surveyed gave Thames a score of less than one for its incident response.

Customers described the odour as “highly-offensive” and a constant “slap in the face”. Many took to “battening down the hatches”, keeping windows and doors closed during the summer months. While most respondents also said they felt ashamed by the smell in their area and avoided going outside as often as possible.

The odour was the result of storing excess sewage sludge at a wastewater treatment works on Riverside Way, following issues at other nearby sites. As warmer weather arrived, the stored sewage sludge caused strong odours.

The sewage was brought to the site in Camberley between February and March last year. It remained untreated on site until September 2023.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We are deeply sorry to our customers across Camberley who were impacted by abnormal levels of odour last summer. […] We accept full responsibility for the unpleasant smell endured by local residents and are carefully reviewing the findings published in Ofwat and the CCW’s recent incident report.

“We acknowledge that we didn’t deploy odour suppression equipment quickly enough and when we did set the equipment up, we encountered problems in running it continuously. We also accept that we could have communicated better with our customers and affected residents and are acting on those lessons learned.”

Following the incident, Thames Water has also decommissioned the emergency sludge storage tanks on site, so that they can’t be used to store sewage sludge again.

The report is particularly critical of Thames Water’s communication during the incident. It reveals that Thames directly contacted residents on just one occasion after continuous pressure from local councillors and the involvement from high-profile MP Michael Gove.

The report adds that had Thames taken “effective and timely communication” then it “could have allayed many of the sources of […] negative feelings” of its customer base.

Thames is also criticised for its communication after the sewage had been removed, with residents not informed that work had been carried out.

Lynn Parker, senior director for casework, enforcement and customers at Ofwat said: “Camberley residents were subjected to a miserable experience last year when a persistent foul stench stopped them enjoying the summer in the way they would have wished.

“Thames Water’s handling of this incident and communication with customers was unacceptable. At the very least they deserve a proper explanation and apology and that should happen now.”

When asked about compensation for the incident, most residents said they would rather see Thames provide a community contribution to the area and to reinvest to ensure a similar event never takes place again.

Mike Keil, CCW CEO said: “People’s anger and frustration is palpable having endured months of disruption to their daily lives, while being left with the impression Thames Water had gone into hiding.

“Much of this upset could have been avoided had the company kept residents regularly and clearly informed of what was going on instead of leaving a communication ‘black hole’.

“All the people affected deserve an apology and reassurance that this will never happen again as a first step to repairing trust in the company.”