As part of their bid to take control of Thames Water, the company’s creditors are asking for leniency on environmental regulations until 2040, reports Marco Marcelline

Campaigners have urged Waltham Forest’s MPs to speak out against a Thames Water deal which they say would put the borough at risk of illegal sewage levels until 2040. 

Thames Water is on the brink of financial collapse, and the company’s creditors, which includes major hedge funds, asset managers, and pension funds, are currently negotiating with Ofwat to determine its future and prevent the company from falling into government-controlled special administration.

As part of their bid to take control of Thames Water, the company’s creditors are asking for leniency on environmental regulations until 2040, instead offering to follow its own rules and regulations. 

This comes after the Environment Agency named Thames Water as the worst offender for serious pollution incidents in 2024.

Thames Water released sewage into the River Lea and its tributaries 1,060 times in 2023, according to the latest available data from the Environment Agency, with the River Ching and Dagenham Brook experiencing the most sewage spills in the borough.

In December 2025, the River Ching Action Group identified two heavily polluting outfalls, which resulted in high levels of ammonia and phosphate in the river downstream of them. In response, Thames Water has said it will begin an investigation into these outfalls this year.

Campaign group We Own It has co-ordinated an open letter to Ofwat and the Environment Secretary, calling on them to reject the creditors’ proposal. They are asking all MPs in the Thames Water region to sign, and say ‘no’ to illegal sewage until 2040. 

No Waltham Forest MP signed the letter which was sent to Ofwat and the government in mid-February.

Leyton and Wanstead MP Calvin Bailey said: “It’s always in the interest of organisations like We Own It to make out that not using exactly their language or methods represents a failure to act. But there is no reason we should accept this political tactic.

“Rather than pretending that decades of underinvestment, disgraceful exploitation and pollution can be solved overnight at no cost, I have been working with Labour colleagues to hold Thames Water to account through scrutiny and new laws to stop them looting public assets.”

Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy said: “Given the volume of correspondence we receive I prioritise correspondence from local residents. It’s untrue that I have not raised any concerns with Thames Water about their conduct, pollution or that I have not advocated for public ownership through the mutualisation of Thames Water.”

Chingford and Woodford Green MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith did not respond to a request for comment.

We Own It’s lead campaigner Sophie Conquest said: “The name of every single MP in the Thames Water region should be on this open letter – because it’s so simple. Do they think water companies should be allowed to get away with polluting – illegally – for profit, or do they not?

“Thames Water already has an abysmal environmental record, and it has let down so many households so many times. Why should they be rewarded for their failure?

“This is also about our water system as a whole – letting water companies decide the terms of their own regulation would set an incredibly dangerous new precedent for the water industry.”

Meanwhile, the company’s ageing Coppermills Water Treatment Works in Walthamstow has drawn considerable concern amid reports that a “single fault” there could cut off water supply for millions of Londoners. 

The Walthamstow site is Thames Water’s main treatment works in London and it provides water to approximately three million people.

Areas of specific concern are the centre’s 1960s high lift pumping station, failure of the slow sand filtration process, and drainage issues in the contact tank. 

The Echo understands that there was a microbiological incident in March 2023 caused by untreated water entering the contact tank. The water contained cryptosporidium, a microscopic parasite that can cause a potentially dangerous illness called cryptosporidiosis. The parasite thrives in the intestines of infected humans and animals and is passed out in their faeces. 

Ofwat approved a £400million improvement programme for Coppermills in 2024, with the work set to begin this spring and finish in summer 2032.

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