Thames Water ramps up plans for Abingdon Reservoir with public consultation
Thames Water has ramped up its plans for a new £1.5bn reservoir South of Oxford, which it says will secure its ability to supply the growing population across London and the South East.
The water company, which remains on the brink of collapse after a litany of crises, launched a public consultation on the move in conjunction with Southern Water and Affinity Water, which will gauge the opinions of communities impacted by the scheme.
Should the reservoir go ahead, it would be the first built since the privatisation of the water industry thirty years ago, despite the population of the UK having ballooned by over 10m people in that time.
The body of water would also be the second-largest reservoir in the country and the biggest in the South, overtaking Datchet’s Queen Mother Reservoir.
Plans progress despite Thames Water’s turmoil
In the most recent analysis of water companies by the Environment Agency, the firm was judged to have overseen the largest increase in the number of sewage spills in the country. Last month, dozens of people in south-east London reported becoming unwell due to poor water quality.
The firm’s troubled environmental record can partly be attributed to the dire state of its finances that has left it on the brink of bankruptcy.
The water company is continuing to buckle under the weight of ballooning interest payments from eye-watering debts mostly taken on when it was owned by private equity giant Macquarie.
And with the prospect of costly necessary infrastructure improvements on the horizon, it was recently judged to be worthless by its biggest shareholder, the Canadian pension fund Omers.
Despite the dark clouds it finds itself in, Thames says that a new site in Abingdon is necessary because the population of the Thames Valley area is expected to grow by another 2m in the next 25 years.
Leonie Dubois, the firm’s head of engagement, land and consents, said: “Our water resources are under threat, and the consequences of not investing in a new reservoir could be to the detriment of millions of people, the environment, and the economy, so it’s vital we take action.”
Bold plan to come up against local opposition
The 150bn litre mega-reservoir is expected to take 15 years to complete if it’s given the green light, with a target opening date set for 2040.
Thames claims the body will produce over 270m litres of water per day, securing the supply of water to the 15m people in the Thames Water catchment.
The consultation, which will last 12 weeks in total, will face staunch local opposition. A number of pressure groups have been set up to campaign against its development.
A spokesman for the Group Against Reservoir Development (GARD) told City PM: “In spite of Thames Water’s hype, a return to the largest possible version of the Abingdon Reservoir is not a ‘new design’, merely a set of misleading artists’ impressions. They have made no progress on moving from a ‘concept’ design since the report of 2007 – the plan which the 2010 Public Inquiry rejected…
“GARD remains committed to its call for a Public Inquiry and will be pressing the incoming government to instigate a full investigation.”