11 August 2010

The Big Map can be viewed at www.thameswater.co.uk/thebigmap.

Counties or London boroughs can be clicked for an outline of what Thames Water is planning to do area by area between 2010 and 2015. Further detail will be added to the map later in the five-year period as project plans are finalised.

Richard Aylard, Sustainability Director for Thames Water, said:

"We have created this map so our customers and stakeholders can see what work we are doing, and when, to ensure we deliver the best possible standards of service both now and in future.

"We are a long-term business, planning to meet our customers' needs not just today and tomorrow but 50 and even 100 years from now. The work we do today will help determine whether future generations receive the same reliable, high-quality service that our customers now enjoy.”

The company's average household bill is currently £303 a year, among the lowest in the sector. At the water industry price review in November last year, Ofwat, the economic regulator, allowed Thames Water to increase bills by 3 per cent above inflation over the next five years so it can fund essential upgrades to its network.

The work between 2010 and 2015 includes:

• building the £600m Lee Tunnel, to take storm sewage away from the River Lee, a tributary of the Thames;
• improving treatment standards and capacity at all five major London sewage works;
• installing water meters at 370,000 properties;
• replacing worn-out Victorian water pipes under London so leakage doesn't get worse;
• protecting nearly 2,500 homes from the misery of sewer flooding, which is when effluent backs up in drains unable to cope with heavy flows.

Thames Water is doing many more projects between 2010 and 2015. Some are already defined but others are still in the planning and design phase. When these projects are finalised they will be added to The Big Map for people to view online.

Here are three schemes - in Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Surrey respectively - that Thames Water has drawn up plans for and intends to deliver:

• at Coates sewage works in Cirencester, enhancing the treatment of the water discharged into underground aquifers to help maintain groundwater levels and quality;
• at Thatcham near Newbury, constructing two boreholes to maintain water levels at the Thatcham Reedbeds, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation, in the event of a drought;
• at Guildford, Cranleigh, Earlswood and Farnham sewage works, reducing odour affecting occupants of neighbouring properties.