United Utilities and Thames lay out river health ambitions

United Utilities and Thames Water have each laid out the investments they plan to make to improve the health of rivers in their regions in the coming years.

Thames’ chief executive Sarah Bentley said the company “expected to be judged on its performance” and has set targets to which it can be held accountable.

The UK’s largest water company said it will reduce the total duration of sewage discharges in its region by 50% by 2030 and up to 80% in sensitive catchments.

Speaking at the Rivers Trust’s spring conference, Bentley said the company has “a number of projects and initiatives underway” to move away from relying on overflows. She said: “That will take time, effort, and sustained investment but ultimately, we expect to be judged on our performance, which means setting and meeting targets.”

During the current price review period, Thames is investing £250 million each year on improving its operational sites, which will contribute to the health of waterways. Major projects are due to get underway at treatment plants in Witney, Mogden and Chesham.

Bentley pledged £5 million to improve catchment partnerships together with the Rivers Trust over the next five years.

She said the organisation is on-track to deliver its commitment of providing near real time notifications from all of its combined sewer overflows (CSOs) by the end of this year following the success of an open data pilot in Oxford.

Meanwhile, United Utilities said it will invest £230 million over the next three years to improve 184km of rivers across its region.

The company’s plan includes progressive improvements in its operations; transparency over actions and performance; supporting stakeholders to care for rivers; and creating opportunities for people to use and enjoy their rivers.

To achieve these aims, United Utilities said it will invest in its wastewater systems, enhance its monitoring and sharing of data, use more nature-based solutions and innovate more. It pledged to cut the number of spills from combined sewer overflows in its regions by at least one third during the current price review period to 2025.

The company said it will be monitoring all of its CSOs and making real-time data on their operation publicly available by next year.

Jo Harrison, environment, planning and innovation Director at United Utilities, said: “It’s a long term ambition, but we believe we can make some major improvements over the course of this decade, building upon the latest data that shows sewer spills have reduced by 28% between 2020 and 2021.

“But that’s only part of the solution; we can’t do this on our own. River health is affected by many factors so we’ve published this route map to show how we will get our own house in order and help others to get involved and work collaboratively. Ultimately, better rivers are better for everyone across the North West.”

To encourage more public use of waters, United Utilities will support local bids for inland bathing sites and recreational clubs will be established at reservoirs. It will also launch a community fund with the Rivers Trust to encourage citizen scientists to collect data from waters.