Thames to invest £1.6bn in wastewater infrastructure by 2025

Thames Water last week announced shareholders would fund £1.6bn of investment in its sewerage infrastructure over the next two years, more than doubling its spend of the previous two years. This derives from the £2bn expenditure package shareholders promised last summer as new equity was injected.

From April, Thames will invest £1.12bn on sewage treatment plants, including £650m on enhancing and upgrading over 135 existing sites to improve resilience and provide additional capacity. Key enhancement projects include upgrading the Beckton (£145m), Mogden (£97m), Witney (£15m) and Chesham (£16.4m) works. Over the period, Thames will spend a further £470m on the wider sewer network.

The company said this record investment for a UK water utility would help achieve its commitment to reduce the total annual duration of discharges by 50% by 2030 compared to a 2020 baseline, including an 80% reduction in discharges in particularly sensitive catchments.