Thames Water needs urgent action - public needs to know what comes next

It's been another tumultuous year for Thames Water, and the saga shows no sign of ending. Month after month, debts mount, performance declines, and pollution worsens. Behind the headlines lies one question the Government refuses to answer: when will it act? I've spent months searching for evidence as part of our legal challenge against the Government for failing to produce a policy on when it will trigger a special administration regime for failing water companies like Thames Water. Somewhere in that paper trail, I kept seeing "Project Timber". But I could find only the briefest of information about what it was. The deeper I dug, the more curious the silence became.

Very little information exists publicly about Project Timber. Whispers in Westminster suggest it is the previous Government's contingency plan for what to do if or when Thames Water collapses. First mentioned in Parliament in March 2024, Richmond Park MP Sarah Olney described it as "a contingency plan should Thames Water be unable to operate". Eighteen months later, it remains under lock and key. Why the secrecy? What is this Government trying to hide? When we at River Action filed official requests under Freedom of Information, Defra replied it could "neither confirm nor deny" Project Timber's existence, claiming disclosure might threaten national security and international relations. National security, really?

This is a water company, not a nuclear programme. If it doesn't exist, it can't be a threat. If it does, the public has every right to know, especially when the company supplies water to a quarter of England and dumps millions of litres of sewage into rivers.

The name "Timber" might symbolise a falling tree, a collapse. Every month without action allows Thames Water to fail, pollute, and accumulate debt, while investors and executives dodge accountability. "Timber" is usually a warning cry. Yet the Government seems to be looking the other way until the structure finally hits the ground.

Putting Thames Water into special administration wouldn't be a disaster; quite the opposite, it would be a reset and put it on a stable footing for the medium to longer term.

It would allow for new ownership, sustainable financing, and governance focused on public benefit rather than private profit. The regime exists precisely for this kind of crisis, to protect essential services while stabilising companies too big to fail but too toxic to keep running as they are.

Transparency would give the public confidence that someone is thinking beyond the next headline. That's why we are appealing Defra's 'neither confirm nor deny' response. Every household and business paying a water bill is affected.

The situation is absurd. Shareholders refuse to put in new capital. Debts top £17billion. Infrastructure is creaking. Pollution continues.

Meanwhile, the company seeks bill increases with Ofwat approval, leaving customers to foot the bill for decades of mismanagement. Local communities report rivers clogged with algae, fish kills, and public warnings about bathing and fishing, yet Thames Water continues to drag its heels on urgent repairs.

The Government's position is puzzling. Ministers seem unwilling or unable to act while hoping someone else steps up to save the company. Delay makes the eventual reckoning more painful.

At River Action, we're asking for two things: transparency and urgent action. Publish a clear policy, and use the Special Administration Regime for Thames Water. The public deserves to know what's coming next - and the company deserves competent, accountable management. There's also a strong financial case for intervention.

Thames Water's latest bonds command eye-watering interest rates of around 9.75%. If the company were brought into special administration and backed by the government, new bonds could be issued at nearer 4%.

That difference could save hundreds of millions of pounds, cash that could be invested on upgrading pipes, stopping pollution, and delivering clean, abundant water. It's not just the right thing to do; it's the economically sensible thing to do.

Water is not a commodity to be gamed by hedge funds or buried under boardroom spin. It is a public necessity, as vital as air. Yet secrecy suggests the Government protects investors over the environment or the public.

I'll end with the question I've asked ever since I first saw the codename buried in a government file: what's in Project Timber? And why are they desperate to keep it hidden? Because when the tree finally falls, when Thames Water's house of cards collapses, it is the public who will be standing underneath it.

• Dr Samir Seddougui is Campaign Researcher at River Action