Frequently asked questions
What is Thames Water's catchment area?
Thames Water has 13.5million water and sewerage customers across London and the Thames Valley, covering around 8,000 sq km (over 5000 square miles). As well as supplying London, we cover Swindon, Oxford, Slough, Reading, Aylesbury and Guilford.
View the Thames Water catchment map
How much are customers' bills?
This year (2008/09), in accordance with the price review agreed with Ofwat for 2005 to 10, bills for domestic non-metered customers have risen by 5.4 per cent including inflation. This represents an increase of £16 from 2007/08 on the average annual household bill, rising to £304 a year, or a daily charge of around 83p a day.
Bills for metered customers have risen by 6.8 per cent, increasing the average annual household bill by £18 from 2007/08, to £268 or a daily charge of 73p.
Metered customers who adopt water efficiency measures can enjoy greater savings.
Customers who opt for a water meter, but cannot have one fitted, can choose to go on to the new Assessed Household Charge, which is determined by the number of bedrooms in a property.
How do I arrange to film/photograph London's sewers?
Due to the high demand for filming opportunities at our sewers we are unable to accommodate all requests. Priority will be given to organisations who aim to illustrate the work of Thames Water.
Please contact the Press Office for more information.
Film companies looking for location filming that does not relate directly to our operational issues, should contact Locality Unlimited.
Email: info@localityunlimited.com
Telephone: 0207 812 9144
Has Thames Water met its leakage target?
Reducing leakage remains our biggest priority - especially in London, where the level of leakage is still above the national average. Over the five years to 2010 we are investing more than £500,000 a day to reduce leakage, a total of around £1.15 billion.
Our programme of Victorian mains replacement programme will provide most of the reduction in leakage as old pipes are replaced by new in the leakiest parts of London. We will also continue to improve the targeting and repair of leaking mains.
We outperformed our leakage target for 2006/2007 of 810mld achieving 790mld (million litres per day). We also expect to meet our target for 2007/2008 of 755mld.
What is Thames Water doing to prevent sewer flooding?
Our sewers are designed to cope with the vast majority of storms but occasionally there are storms that are so great they will overwhelm the system.
Increasing population, housing development and climate change are all putting increasing pressure on our sewer network. We are investing £320m on sewer flooding alleviation schemes, which should reduce the risk of flooding at 10,000 properties by 2010.
All incidents are added to our sewer flooding database which is our primary source of information used to assess potential flood alleviation schemes and future investment.
Will there be a hosepipe ban this summer?
Due to above average rainfall during the winter, our groundwater, river and reservoir levels are all high and we do not anticipate any water restrictions this summer.
London receives less rainfall in an average year than many cities thought of as much drier.
We're working hard to reduce the risk of future hosepipe bans or more severe restrictions, and making plans now to ensure that we are able to provide enough water to meet future needs.
For more information, visit our Water Resources Management Plan page.
