Sir Jon Cunliffe, Chair of the Independent Water Commission – 22/04/25
Dear Sir Jon,
I am writing to you to respond to the Independent Water Commission’s call for evidence
in my capacity as the MP for Reading Central, an area which has experienced significant
problems with our water company, Thames Water.
Thames Water’s headquarters is in my constituency and the company is therefore an
important local employer. I would like to stress that I recognise that the company’s
employees are trying their best under what are often challenging circumstances.
However, it cannot be ignored that there are significant issues with companies like
Thames Water that need to be addressed, and I therefore welcome this consultation
which will make recommendations on how we can create a water sector fit for the
future.
My constituents regularly contact me to share their concerns on a number of issues
relating to the poor performance of our water company, including pollution, customer
service, the maintenance of the water network, and bills.
I would like to expand upon these points below:
Pollution:
One of the major concerns that my constituents raise with me is the level of pollution in
our rivers and waterways. For too long water companies have ignored the concerns of
residents and have continued to pump record levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and
seas. Reading is particularly badly affected by this dreadful practice as it is downstream
from a number of sewage treatment works and sewage is regularly discharged into the
Thames, Kennet and Holy Brook. I have written to Thames Water to express my concerns
over this practice on a number of occasions and have witnessed the foul effects that
sewage dumping has on the health of our rivers during my own recreation time alongside
our local waterways.
Our rivers are a vital natural resource and should not be polluted in this way. I fully
support the measures introduced in the Government’s Water (Special Measures) Act,
which received Royal Assent on 24 February 2025. The Water (Special Measures) Act will
introduce new tougher penalties, including imprisonment, for water executives when
companies fail to co-operate or obstruct investigations and will ban bonuses for CEOs and
senior leadership unless high standards are met on protecting the environment, their
consumers, and financial resilience. The Act will ensure that each emergency sewage
overflow outlet will be independently monitored to make it quicker and easier for
regulators to investigate and punish wrongdoing and the measures introduced will also
increase transparency by requiring water companies to publish real-time data for all
emergency overflows in England in a clear, accessible format, and to publish annual
Pollution Incident Reduction Plans.
I am pleased that this review will seek views on how water companies are held to
account for non-compliance and will be looking into how regulation can be further
strengthened to better protect the environment, public health and the country’s finite
water resources.
Customer Service:
Unfortunately, there have been a number of serious incidents – including lengthy water
supply disruptions and sewage leaks – in my constituency in the last few years and many
residents have told me that they feel there is significant room for improvement in the
support and customer service that Thames Water provided in relation to these events.
I have recently written to the water regulator, Ofwat, to raise my concerns about how
Thames Water has handled two significant water supply interruptions in areas of the
town in January and November 2024. The incidents, which occurred in the Newtown and
Caversham Heights areas of my constituency, were both caused by burst water mains and
resulted in a large number of residents experiencing low or no water pressure for a
number of days. In both cases residents have reported: poor communication from
Thames Water; inconveniently situated bottled water stations (in one case the bottled
water station was a 20-minute drive in each direction from the impacted area); and a
lack of support provided to Priority Service Customers, some of whom did not receive a
bottled water delivery despite being advised that they would. Despite the significant
inconvenience experienced, the vast majority of residents were not deemed eligible for
compensation under Thames Water’s Customer Guarantee Scheme (CGS), which requires
a property to have experienced a supply interruption with pressure below 0.3 bar to the
Outset Stop Valve (OSV) for 12 hours consistently. I have asked Ofwat to investigate
these cases to ascertain whether the water company has acted within the spirit of the
regulator’s guidance.
In another serious incident in my constituency, water leaks that were reported by
residents but were not properly investigated by Thames Water have been proven to have
triggered a large sinkhole on Kidmore Road in Caversham Heights. This sinkhole is an
ongoing issue and has resulted in a road closure and significant disruption and distress to
the road’s residents. Thames Water has accepted liability in this case; however, residents
are understandably frustrated that it is possible that this major inconvenience could
have been avoided if the company had responded swiftly and appropriately to their
initial reports.
I appreciate that responding to large-scale incidents of this nature is challenging for
water companies, however, many constituents have been unhappy with how Thames
Water has handled these events, and I hope that the standard of customer service
provided by water companies will be a matter under the scope of the review.
Maintenance of the Water Network:
The incidents that I have mentioned in the above section were all the result of
infrastructure failures. Whilst I appreciate that the maintenance of a large network of
pipes, water treatment plants, reservoirs and pumping stations is a challenge for water
companies, years of underinvestment in this important infrastructure has resulted in
companies like Thames Water having responsibility for an aging and crumbling water and
wastewater system. Without proper investment it is inevitable that major water supply
interruptions like the ones I have highlighted will continue to occur, and I believe that
more needs to be done to ensure that customers are protected from unnecessary
disruptions to this vital service.
The Government has already taken urgent steps to ensure that funding for infrastructure
investment will be ring fenced so that money can only be spent on upgrades, not
diverted for bonuses or shareholder payouts. I am pleased that the Independent Water
Commission will investigate other ways that the resilience of water companies’
infrastructure can be improved.
Bills:
Under the previous government water company bosses were allowed to take millions of
pounds in bonuses while pumping record levels of sewage into our waters and failing to
invest in our water infrastructure. I share customers’ frustrations that they are now
being asked to pay more in their bills in order to fix the systemic problems caused by this
chronic underinvestment.
As the regulator, these price increases are set by Ofwat as part of its five-yearly Price
Review process. I am glad that the Independent Water Commission will be reviewing
how customer bills are set whilst also considering the other means by which water
companies can attract the necessary finance for future investment that do not place the
burden on their customers.
I would like to thank you for undertaking this important body of work and for taking the
time to consider the points I have raised on behalf of my constituents. I look forward to
reviewing the Commission’s final recommendations on the future changes needed to the
water sector once they are published.
Matt Rodda MP
Member of Parliament for Reading Central