Thames confirms it will launch live sewage discharge notifications from January 2023

Thames Water is finalising its plans for live sewage discharge notifications.

The company committed to provide live sewage discharge notifications in as close to real-time as possible for all of its 468 permitted sites by the end of 2022, as part of its River Health action plan and focus on transparency.

It confirmed that from January 2023, the data will be publicly available on the Thames Water website and that its pollution desk will support the business in responding to customer contacts about these notifications. This follows a successful pilot of an open data platform for real-time alerts of sewage discharges from six of its sites around Oxford this year.

The news came as Thames’ pollution desk, reached its ten-year anniversary. The 24-hour desk receives reports of pollutions from customers and internal employees and sends Thames Water crews to investigate within two hours, as well as reporting to the relevant regulators.