Thames Water has been forced to pay out over £24 Million for violations across the region over the last five years.

This comes as the water company, catering to all households and businesses in the region, has come up against backlash over increasing sewage leaks.

Some of the most severe violations include overpayment to customers, failure to disinfect water, and failure to meet commitments it made to its customers to tackle leakage.

The £24 Million of fines over the last five years follows an incident in 2018 where Thames Water was forced to pay a staggering £120 Million following the results of an Ofwat investigation into Thames' failure to meet commitments it made to its customers to tackle leakage. 

At the time, the body Ofwat confirmed that Thames Water would pay £65M back to its customers as part of a total package of payments and penalties worth £120M.

No violations have been reported against Thames Water in 2023 or 2024 however there continues to be backlash from environmental groups against ongoing sewage spillages.

A spokesperson from Thames Water said: “Our customers expect a great service from us every time, and we’re sorry when we fail to deliver at the first opportunity.

"In 2022-2023, we met 55% of our annual performance commitments. While it is our job to deliver our services whatever the weather, our performance last year was severely affected by the summer drought and December freeze/thaw event.”    

Here are the most recent sewage leaks throughout Berkshire in 2024.

Ongoing

Mortimer: feeds into the Foudry Brook

Started – February 8

Chapel Row: Feeds into Tributary of River Bourne

Started – March 19

Sewage leak in last 48 hours

Buckleberry (Briff Lane)

Started: March 20 (lasted for 30 mins)

Windsor – feeds into the River Thames

Started – March 20 (lasted for 8 mins)

Slough – feeds into Roundmoor Ditch

Started – March 18 (lasted 16 hours 30 mins)

Sewage leaks in March

Wargrave 

Started: March 12 (latest for 4 hours 45 mins)

Blacknest, Sunningdale - feeds into Virginia Water Lake

Started: March 12 (lasted for 5hrs 56 mins)

Ascot - feeds into The Cut

Started: March 3 (lasted for 18 hours)

Bracknell, The Cut

Started: March 12 (lasted for 10 hrs 30 mins)

Ash Ridge, Wokingham

Started: March 16 (lasted for 30 mins)

Easthampstead Park

Started: March 12 (lasted for 30 mins)

Arborfield - feeds into Barkham Brook

Started: March 13 (lasted 1hr 15 mins)

Burghfield (Clayhill Brook)

Started: March 16 (lasted for 42 hours 15 mins)

Reading - feeds into Foudry Brook

Started: March 12 (lasted 11 hours)