Richmond Council continues to oppose Thames Water’s Teddington river abstraction proposals

Despite welcome reductions in the number of shafts required in Thames Water’s Teddington Direct River Abstraction (TDRA) project, we remain firm in our opposition to the scheme not least due to water quality concerns and to the continued impacts of what are still a range of significant construction sites on valuable open spaces within the borough. 

Councillor Gareth Roberts, Leader of the Council, said: 
 
“Following the outcry from local residents, councillors and MPs, Thames Water have been forced to change their controversial plans, but as a council we remain hugely concerned about the impact both on the river itself and in Ham.  
 
“Thames Water need to do far more to convince residents that this scheme represents the best solution to predicted future water shortages. Until they do that, we will continue to oppose any scheme that we believe could harm the river and our land.” 
 
Thames Water's plan involves taking water from the River Thames at Teddington Weir and diverting it to the Lee Valley Reservoirs, replacing it with waste-water from Mogden Sewage Treatment Works. 
 
Thames Water have made several key changes to their original proposal, including:

• Changing the design of the pipeline that would transfer the treated waste-water from Mogden to the Thames  
• Changing the construction method for the pipeline from a pipejacking method to a tunnel boring method
• Changing the way they propose to extract material from the tunnel during construction 

The amended proposal involves reducing the number of shafts and construction areas in the borough which would alleviate some but not eradicate all of the disruption to our residents and open spaces if the proposals were to go ahead. 
 
You can find out more about the changes on the Thames Water website.