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Environment Secretary says he would have ‘no problem’ swimming in treated sewage water in the Thames
3 June 2025, 09:00 | Updated: 3 June 2025, 09:44
The Environment Secretary has told LBC he'd have "no problem" swimming in water containing treated sewage as he faced questions over the condition of Britain’s waterways.
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Speaking to LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast during a regular Call the Cabinet slot, Steve Reed faced questions over Thames Water’s plan to pump millions of litres of treated sewage into the river at Teddington - an area earmarked by Sir Sadiq Khan to become one of London’s new safe swimming spots.
Last year, Sir Sadiq announced plans to create a new safe and clean swimming area in Teddington as part of a 10-year strategy to reduce pollution in the river Thames.
This plan is at odds with Mr Reed’s decision to approve a Thames Water plan to create a new sewage treatment plant in the area, which would see at least 75 million litres of treated sewage pumped into Teddington’s water.
Mr Reed described this as a “mismatch” as he told Nick he would have “no problem” swimming in the water at Teddington.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed would go swimming in the Thames
Pressed whether he would swim in the Thames at Teddington, Mr Reed said: “I would. People do."
He said people should be able to swim in rivers without the ‘concern’ of getting sick.
“When I was a kid I used to be able to go to the beach… down in Cornwall. No-one thought about what you might catch from contaminated water.”
He told LBC: “Last year there was record levels of sewage pollution in our rivers, lakes and seas.
“People are disgusted. They see the statistics.
“But what they know is their local river, their local beach, just as. As you're talking about. And this government has taken action on that already.”
Mr Reed added Labour has set aside £104 billion to clean up Britain’s waterways as he pinned the blame for the nation’s toxic water on the previous government.
“This is why we're changing the whole regulatory system, because the whole thing has gone wrong,” he said.
“We've launched the biggest crackdown in history on these water companies. They will now face up to two year prison sentences, those bosses, if they are obstructing the investigations when they happen.
“We've got a record 81 criminal investigations underway right now into failings by the water companies.
“As a sign of my fury at what's going on, we've given the regulator the power they need to ban those bonuses and there will be announcements coming on Friday.”
When pressed further on the discrepancy between Sir Sadiq’s plan and Thames Water’s scheme, he said: “That sounds like a mismatch.“If it's treated sewage, then the issue is the extent to how clean it is when it, when it's, when, when it's coming out. So there's a lot of things you'd need to understand here, but in terms of sewage going into waterways, one of the problems is we've got a broken sewage system.
“The previous government didn't invest to fix it. We've got £104 billion starting this year for the next five years that will drastically reduce sewage going into our waterways. So we're taking action already.”
Despite these plans to dump even more sewage into the Thames, Mr Reed insisted he would have no problem going for a dip himself when pressed by Nick.
It comes as a bid to save Thames Water was plunged into chaos today as US private equity giant KKR pulled out of plans to invest in the troubled utility.
Mr Reed told LBC Thames Water remains “stable” despite fears over its future.
The heavily indebted supplier - which chose KKR as its preferred bidder at the end of March - said the investment firm indicated it would not be in a position to proceed with a bid and that its preferred partner status had lapsed.
Mr Reed said "Thames itself remains stable" and the government is "keeping a very close eye on the situation." He added there would be "no disruption to water supply."
When asked by Nick if there was a chance of the government stepping in and taking "emergency control" of Thames Water, Mr Reed said at the moment there was no chance of this and reiterated that the company and water supply were stable.
But, he also added the company was "clearly facing a difficult situation"
Thames Water said it intends to take forward discussions with "certain senior creditors" on an alternative plan to recapitalise the business.
