Sewage works upgrade decades late, says campaigner (UK) 9/Jul/2026

A Surrey campaigner has expressed hope that a Thames Water project will reduce river pollution and sewage spills. But Simon Collins, trustee of River Mole River Watch, added the work by the water company should have been done "decades ago". It comes as Thames Water said it had completed a £26.4m upgrade to Burstow sewage treatment works, which it claimed will "address historical issues". Collins told BBC News that the nearby Burstow stream was one of the most polluted in the area. "It suffers a great deal from the sewage treatment works just upstream," he said. "There's very little life in it." 'Just as bad as before' Collins, from Reigate, added the site had "performed poorly for decades", which he blamed on a "lack of investment". He said more than 1,200 hours of untreated sewage had been discharged from the Burstow works into the stream on average each year since 2019. Thames Water said improvements at the site - which it called part of its biggest upgrade programme in 150 years - would increase capacity, enhance reliability and improve the quality of effluent discharged into the River Mole. Collins said tests by River Mole River Watch had shown that upgrades at other nearby Thames Water sites had not improved the quality of treated effluent going into that stream. "In fact... [it] seems to be just as bad as it was before," he said. He added the group would "reserve judgement" on the latest upgrades at Burstow until further tests. #thameswater #ripoffbritain #shamefulthameswater #sewagetreament #sewageUK