THAMES Water has chosen a new chairman just two days after its chief executive stepped down amid serious questions over the company’s future and its debt.

It came as the Government tried to calm the waters by saying that the utility has “secure and committed” funding, and reassured customers that their supply would not be interrupted.

Sir Adrian Montague, who was previously the chairman of Anglian Water, will take over the role on July 10.

He takes over from Ian Marchant who announced in April he would step down when a successor was found.

This comes just days after the company's CEO, Sarah Bentley, announced that she will be stepping down from the role amid fears of the companies collapse.

READ MORE: Thames Water boss quits as company is struggling

On Thursday (June 29), Thames Water’s struggles helped eyes to shift to the massive debt pile that the water sector has built up since privatisation.

Total debt in the sector hit £60.6 billion last year, increasing by more than £1 billion from the previous year, water regulator Ofwat said.

Late last year, the watchdog flagged four other firms whose financial health it was most worried about. These were Southern Water, Portsmouth, Yorkshire, and SES Water.

But ministers have reiterated that customers will not see their water supplies affected as a result of financial troubles.

Downing Street said water regulator Ofwat was on top of the issue, and that the Government was keeping it under observation.

“Of course the Government is carefully monitoring this but it is for the regulator in the first instance,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said.

He added that “while there are clearly issues with Thames Water, they have secure and committed funding”.

Health minister Neil O’Brien told Sky News: “Absolutely nothing is going to happen in terms of either their (customers’) bills or their access to water, we have contingency plans – like we do in all of these network utilities – to manage any difficult situations.”

Senior Conservative Cabinet minister Mel Stride said on Wednesday that “water will continue to flow” whatever the outcome for the company.

As the CEO's resignation was announced, Thames Water released a statement on the London Stock Exchange about the surge of funding from shareholders.

They said: “As envisaged in June 2022, Thames Water received the expected £500 million of new funding from its shareholders in March 2023 and is continuing to work constructively with its shareholders in relation to the further equity funding expected to be required to support Thames Water's turnaround and investment plans.”

Thames Water, which is owned by a group of pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, stressed that it is working with shareholders to secure the cash it needs.

The firm, which serves 15 million households, had a debt pile of £14 billion last year and the highest gearing level of all water companies – a key measure of a company’s financial risk.

Meanwhile, the largest shareholder of Tideway, the company building London’s new “super sewer”, sought to stress that the project is independent of Thames Water.

Thames Water is set to operate and manage the tunnel when construction completes, due to be by 2024.