Money Problems Block Sewage

3.47.32pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 12th Aug 2004

With raw sewage overflows into the Thames killing thousands of fish, and giving evidence that Mogden is struggling to cope with the volume of sewage in SW London or curb the noxious smells, money is proving a key bottleneck.

The water regulator Ofwat has approved a 16% increase in Thames Water water rates over 5 years, but the extra money will be directed to improve drinking water quality and will not go to deal with the sewage odour problems. The bid by Thames Water for £4bn investment has been cut back to £2.4bn and there is no serious money to deal with the sewage problem.

Vincent Cable said: "Ministers have an opportunity to look at Ofwat's proposals and modify them. I shall be pressing them to address this emerging environmental disaster. After years have been spent clearing up the Thames, we now realise that the system cannot handle storm flooding without emptying vast amounts of untreated sewage into the river. And the problems at Mogden are growing as more and more development is taking place without the capacity to handle the volumes of sewage and to mitigate the smell".