Case against Thames Water involving protected Thatcham waterways and dead fish is mired in legal wrangling

Thames Water may contest claims that it deliberately poisoned Thatcham waterways and a fishing lake with raw sewage.

Thousands of fish were reportedly killed as a result.

Earlier this year the utilities giant was convicted of contravening an environmental permit by knowingly allowing discharge of sewage effluent on 10 occasions into the Moor Stream, into Hambridge Lake and into the Kennet and Avon Canal in Thatcham.

Moor Stream, south of Thatcham, comprises part of Thatcham Reed Beds SSSI [Site of Special Scientific Interest], also known as Moor Ditch or Moor Ditch Stream.

The Environment Agency contends the action was deliberate.

But, before sentencing could take place at Reading Magistrates’ Court last Thursday, September 18, a barrister for the company, Toby Riley-Smith KC, said his clients might contest that assertion.

In which case, said district judge Samuel Goozee, a Newton hearing - a mini trial to establish the facts - might be necessary.

Sailesh Mehta, prosecuting on behalf of the Environment Agency, told the court: “We say there is deliberate offending and that [Thames Water] is blaming another entity rather than accepting responsibility.”

The court’s attention was also drawn to Thames Water’s dire financial circumstances - the company recorded significant debts of around £16.8 billion in March.

In May 2025, water industry regulator Ofwat issued a record £122.7 million penalty against Thames Water for breaching rules on sewage spills and shareholder payouts, stating the company had failed to protect the environment.

In March, The Guardian newspaper reported that a record 50 per cent more raw sewage was discharged into rivers in England by Thames Water last year compared with the previous 12 months.

As part of the current case, Thames Water is also due to be sentenced for other offences.

An Environment Agency spokesman told NewburyToday: “In September 2020, around two million litres of raw sewage poured into a brook near Wantage, in Oxfordshire.

“The pollution extended to a second brook and adjacent land - some 300 fish died.

“The Environment Agency investigated these major incidents and others in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Hampshire as outside environmental law.

“The incidents included one in Berkshire in September 2019, when approximately 2,100 dead fish were found in Moor Stream.

“A section of the Kennet and Avon Canal and land close by were also polluted.”

Judge Goozee was invited by Mr Riley-Smith to separate the Thatcham case, which involved a ‘rising main’ sewage system, from the other charges.

Rising mains are parts of the sewer system that pump wastewater against gravity, which critics say are difficult to inspect, posing a challenge for maintenance and leading to potential issues like bursts.

Judge Goozee declined to split the cases, saying: “I’m going to keep all these matters together at this stage.”

He said the case may yet be sent up to be dealt with by a judge sitting at a crown court, whose powers of punishment would be greater.

He meanwhile adjourned the case for a further hearing at Reading Magistrates’ Court on December 16.

In unrelated prosecutions brought by the Environment Agency between 2017 and 2023, Thames Water was fined £35.7m for pollution incidents in the Thames Valley, south-west London and on the Sussex/Surrey border.