‘Tragic’ pollution of Surrey's rivers must end says Lib Dem leader

The MP was in Elmbridge on Friday, April 19 to highlight his party’s plans to improve the waterways.

It comes after data showed sewage was released into the River Mole 350 times last year.

He said he would appoint a Tsar; which would be somebody to act as a point of contact for residents and to oversee management of the water company.

The Kingston and Surbiton MP was in Esher for a meeting with Elmbridge business figures as the party gears up for both the local and general elections.

He was then taken to Mill Road to see an overflow water discharge point along with Monica Harding, party candidate for the Esher and Walton seat currently held by the Conservative Dominc Raab, with the pair speaking out about the problems plaguing Surrey’s waterways.

The campaign group, The River Mole River Watch, said that more than 4,500 hours of raw untreated sewage were dumped into the Mole and its tributaries by Thames Water this year. One quarter of that is dumped in Esher.

The Lib Dem leader said: “This is tragic to see a beautiful river like the Mole being so polluted, one of the worst in the country.

“People are angry about it and they want the Government to do something.”

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service the unchecked dumping of sewage had to stop and called for Thames Water to be held to account.

Mr Davey said he wanted to introduce a Thames Tsar to coordinate water management and ensure people’s issues are heard.

He also called for stronger taxes on the company profits, new regulations backed with a stronger Environment Agency, and then to restructure failing water firms.

This would involve mandating companies not to pursue dividends and share value at all costs.

He said: “Thames Water is in a mess.

“The Government allowed them to borrow billions, not to invest but to pay shareholders.

“They have taken huge amounts of money out of the country.

Monica Harding said: “It’s pretty disgraceful.

“It’s not fair on residents.

“Water companies are giving all the money out to shareholders and its people left to pick up the pieces.

Thames Water is the only utility company that runs live updates of its sewage overflows, or storm discharges. This only indicates discharges. Its verified data is published annually.

The Liberal Democrats said that Thames Water discharged 72 billion litres of sewage into the River Thames with one site suffering from 1billion litres in a single day.

Thames Water declined to comments when contacted.