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Thames Water’s plan to build a privately funded £2.2 billion reservoir in Oxfordshire will be challenged by High Court campaigners on Wednesday in a groundbreaking case that could overturn the company’s drought management plan.
The new reservoir, which covers the size of Gatwick Airport, was designated last week as an infrastructure project of “nationally important”; That is, it is considered by the government, not by the local planning authorities.
The group, which includes a campaign to protect rural England and a group for anti-reservoir activists, has overturned the decision of Environment Secretary of State Steve Reid, approved plans to apply for a development consent order next year, and is calling for a public investigation.
Thames Water says the planned Abingdon Reservoir will ensure water supply for 15 million people in southern England, including customers for Affinity Water and southern water. Without that, the utility said it would “face a shortage of 100 million liters per day by 2050.” The company is also told to reduce river and groundwater abstraction and increase pressure on water resources while populations are expected to increase.
However, campaigners advised by former water engineers argue that “Southeast Strategic Resource Options” are expensive and unnecessary, and risk damaging biodiversity and exacerbating local flooding.
Instead, they say they need to secure a leaky pipe in the Thames. It also needs to build inexpensive moving pipes that bring water from wet areas in the northwest, and implement sustainable drainage and grey water systems that reduce the amount of treated water used in the garden.
Derek Stork, director of Saferwaters and former technical director of the UK Atomic Energy Agency, said water companies were encouraged to build larger infrastructures rather than implementing smaller conservation schemes to “enhance balance sheets and shareholder value.”
“This is a scandalous misuse of public money,” he said. “Instead of investing in essential sewage cleanup and modern water reuse systems, Thames Water wants to build an untested reservoir.
Lisa Warne, director of CPRE Oxfordshire, said: “The government should prioritize leak reduction, water reuse and efficiency, not this vanity reservoir.”
According to the Environment Agency, such measures will reduce water demand by around 15% over the next 25 years.
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The reservoir is part of a broad £50 billion plan from regulators to provide 30 new projects to improve UK’s collapsed water infrastructure over the next 15 years, many of which will be funded through separate private financial vehicles.
The Abingdon project has its own corporate structure, management teams and investors. This is modeled after the Thames Tideway sewer tunnel. This will be paid at an additional charge (currently £26) on Thames Water customers’ invoices.
Thames Water said it is a “proven, competitive fundraising model” and provides “value for money.”
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It opened a desalination plant in Beckton, eastern London in 2010, but the £250 million facility that could turn seawater into drinking water was rarely turned on. Despite our urging our customers to save water during the recent heat wave, we are unable to use it this year due to maintenance issues. The company said on Sunday that reservoir levels were “remaining average” during this period, with 94% full.
Defra said he “cannot comment on ongoing legal issues.”
“Without action, some parts of the country could run out of water by 2030. So £100 billion has been invested to improve water infrastructure, including nine new reservoirs.”
