A river on edge and system at breaking point

THE River Thames is on the brink of collapse. Not because of a lack of regulation but because of decades of neglect, underinvestment and profit-driven mismanagement.

What I’m hearing, from those who work every day to keep this river alive, paints a devastating picture of a system at breaking point — one where public safety now depends on luck rather than leadership.

Over recent months, I’ve spoken with the Environment Agency’s own lock- and weir-keepers — the people who hold the river together. Their stories are shocking.

Telemetry alarms, which should warn of dangerously high or low water levels, are no longer monitored overnight. Flooding in South Abingdon last year was directly linked to an ignored alarm and a lack of trained staff.

Fewer than a third of Thames weirs are currently operational. Flood defences are failing. Public footpaths have been closed for years. In some stretches, volunteers are being asked to operate vital river infrastructure.

Trained, experienced staff are leaving in frustration and those who remain work long, exhausting hours in unsafe conditions to stop the system from collapsing entirely. This is the reality on the ground — the voices of the people keeping the river safe being ignored by those supposedly responsible for protecting it.

The Environment Agency has become a symbol of failure — no visible leadership, no accountability and no real presence on the river. It has become the polluter as much as the regulator — complicit through inaction, starved of resources and structurally incapable of fulfilling its purpose.

Amid this collapse, there are glimmers of hope that real change might finally be on the horizon. One of these is the Thames Water Emergency Board (TWEB) — a joint project run by Compass and We Own It.

The initiative brings together households, workers, local government representatives, environmental groups and experts to model what public, democratic ownership of our water systems could look like.

I will be representing Friends of the Thames and the River Thames on the board, ensuring that the river itself — and the communities who depend on it — have a voice in shaping its future. Since the board’s last meeting in May, a great deal has changed.

Private equity firm KKR has pulled out of its £4 billion rescue deal for Thames Water, a major victory for campaigners like us who have long warned against propping up a broken system with more private cash.

The company’s executives have been grilled by MPs over executive bonuses and their failure to meet environmental obligations, while creditors have tabled a so-called “rescue deal” that would allow them to seize control of Thames Water and avoid key environmental commitments for up to 15 years.

The government, meanwhile, has reportedly lined up a special administrator, FTI Consulting, and a potential buyer, CK Infrastructure, in preparation for a possible collapse. The result is stalemate — a broken company, paralysed regulators and a river that continues to pay the price.

At our next TWEB meeting we’ll be discussing what this means for the future — who these creditors and potential owners are, how special administration might unfold and, crucially, how we can ensure that any transition prioritises households, workers and the environment above profit.

The group includes MPs, London Assembly members, trade unions, councillors and leading environmental organisations — all working to democratise the future of Thames Water and ensure our water companies serve people, not shareholders.

The crisis on the Thames is no longer about isolated failures or rogue companies. It’s about a broken system — one that has allowed those in charge to strip our river for profit while the infrastructure beneath it literally rots.

The River Thames doesn’t need more empty promises or stronger regulation of a system that has already failed. It needs rebuilding — publicly, transparently and with the people who live and work along its banks at the heart of every decision.

This river belongs to all of us. It’s time we took it back. To help us protect our River Thames please donate at www.friendsofthethames
.org/donate-to-fott