Sewage pollution remains a serious problem in our local waterways. Thames Water continues to discharge sewage into rivers and streams across the region, affecting sites along the Thames, the Jubilee River and waterways feeding Virginia Water Lake.

While 2025 saw a reduction in spills nationally, there were still 291,492 sewage discharge events across England, showing the scale of the challenge that remains. 

Thames Water remains one of the country's worst-performing water companies, responsible for 107,822 hours of sewage discharges last year while continuing to lose hundreds of millions of litres of water a day through leaks. 

Liberal Democrats are calling for Thames Water to be placed into a Special Administration Regime, for failing water companies to be transformed into customer-owned mutuals, for bonuses to be banned while pollution continues, and for a tougher new regulator with the power to hold water companies properly to account. 

Our rivers and lakes are too important to be treated as open sewers. It's time for Thames Water to clean up its mess and put the environment before profit.