Effluent Evidence: A Visual Investigation of Thames Water’s Data - WORK IN PROGRESS
Effluent Evidence is an ongoing project using open data to photographically investigate the impact of Thames Water dumping raw sewage into our waterways.
As of 2017, the Environment Agency has required all water companies to track the frequency and duration of storm overflow activity. In accordance with these guidelines, Thames Water is obligated to make these records publicly available.
This project utilises the public data, capturing long exposure images that match the length of the sewage discharges. Each photograph is taken at one of the locations of a Thames Water storm overflow, based on their Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) map.
Since 2020, Thames Water’s data shows that they have dumped 1.78 million hours of sewage into waterways, equating to 134 years. When reviewing the same information from all water companies in England, Wales and Scotland, 24 million hours of sewage spills have been recorded. Adding up to a total of 2,739 years
Thames Water’s current debt amounts to upwards of approximately 84% of the regulatory asset value of the company, considerably higher than the 60% benchmark set by Ofwat. Furthermore, the company has has paid out roughly £7.2 billion to £10.4 billion in total dividends since their privatisation almost 30 years ago.
Some action has been taken against them in October 2023 and March 2024, after controversial internal dividend payments of £37.5 million and £158.3 million. Ofwat (The Water Services Regulation Authority) put Thames Water into a formal cash lock-up, making any future dividend payments illegal without explicit regulatory consent.
Other attempts at preventative actions have been attempted, such as CEO’s being blocked from receiving performance bonuses. Yet, in reality this remain unaffected, as Thames Water’s Chief Executive Chris Weston’s total pay rose to £1.16 million in the year to 31 March 2026. His basic pay was also increased by 14% from 1 April this year to £995,000, all whilst the company publicly announces that it could run out of money by November.
It is more important than ever to ensure that companies are held accountable for their actions, by using and showcasing the information that they are legally required to publish. This project aims to create a way to visually challenge Thames Water, and highlight the need for the government to provide real solutions to this ecological and social issue. Otherwise the public are left to suffer the consequences of their corporate greed.
