Standard content for Members only
To continue reading this article, please login to your Utility Week account, Start 14 day trial or Become a member.
If your organisation already has a corporate membership and you haven’t activated it simply follow the register link below. Check here.
Thames Water has hit back at claims by a leading Conservative MP that “human error” on part of the water company caused flooding in his Spelthorne constituency.
Thames denied claims by Kwasi Kwarteng that the delays in closing a sluice gate caused serious flooding around one of the Thames’ tributaries: the River Ash, in Staines-upon-Thames on February 11.
In a letter, Kwarteng announced he would hold an adjournment debate in Parliament to “put on public record” the incident and to raise the issue of how water companies are held to account.
According to the MP, investigations, led by a group of local residents, revealed that it is likely that the River Ash flooded.
“The activation of a local flood prevention protocol to shut the sluice gate was delayed by four days by the local water company”, he said.
However, Thames said it was “not correct” that flooding was caused by human error and refuted the accusation that the closing of its sluice gate was delayed unnecessarily.
“We were instructed to close the sluice gate by the agencies coordinating the flooding response on the evening of February 11, and we closed the gate to the Environment Agency’s specification that night,” a spokeswoman told Utility Week.
“Operating the sluice gate meant moving floodwater from one location and potentially flooding another, so we did not operate the gate until all agencies agreed that the benefits would outweigh the potential flooding elsewhere,” she added.
Kwarteng also said that water industry regulator, Ofwat, did not have “enough teeth” and was “too complex and weak”.
“Examples of poor maintenance of infrastructure and underinvestment demonstrate that,” he said.
“The privatisation of the water companies has generally been a good thing. However, due to the monopolies that these businesses often enjoy – people have little choice over who supplies their water – it is crucial that they are properly regulated, “he added.
Following Thames’ rebuttal of his claims, Kwarteng was not immediately available for comment.
Please login or Register to leave a comment.