Effluent Evidence - 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 including Thames Water to begin monitoring storm overflow activity. In accordance with these guidelines, Thames Water is also obligated to provide this information to the public. According to information published by the Environment Agency, there were 3.6 million hours of sewage spills in 2023 alone, almost doubling in comparison to 1.75 million hours of exposure the previous year.
This project utilises this public data, capturing long exposure images that match the length of the sewage discharges at the locations that Thames Water provide for those discharges, based on their Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) map. https://www.thameswater.co.uk/edm-map
Analysts suggest Thames Water’s current debt amounts to approximately 80% of the value of their business. Something must be done to challenge this. Shareholders and CEO’s remain seemingly unaffected by the controversy, and are even increasing their payouts. As water bills are set to increase by 36% between 2025-2026, the public are left to suffer the consequences of Thames Water's corporate greed.
It is now more important than ever to ensure that companies are being held accountable for their actions, by using and showcasing the information that they are legally required to publish. This project aims to create another way to help challenge water companies, and highlight the need for the government to provide real solutions to this ecological and social issue.
