Thames Water has come under renewed criticism after another water outage left residents in Oxfordshire without supply, while campaigners also highlighted sewage spill concerns at one of the company’s treatment sites.
Residents in Chipping Norton were affected after a burst pipe disrupted water supplies, marking the second significant outage in Oxfordshire within a matter of weeks.
The latest disruption follows a similar incident in Eynsham, where households also experienced supply problems, adding to growing frustration over the reliability of water services across the county.
The outage happened on the same day campaigners identified South Moreton sewage treatment works in South Oxfordshire as Thames Water’s worst-performing site for sewage spills, intensifying scrutiny of the utility company’s operations.
The combination of supply failures and environmental concerns has prompted a strong response from GMB Union, which represents thousands of water workers across the country.
Reacting to the latest incident, Cliff Roney, a former water worker, GMB activist and contributor to Channel 4’s Dirty Business, criticised the company’s management and called for urgent reform. He said:
“Thames Water hiked bills by 31 per cent last year and yet ordinary people are going without water and still seeing sewage dumped in their waterways.
“The way in which Thames Water is run is disgraceful, and residents in Oxfordshire and across the country are crying out for change.
“We urgently need to nationalise water to protect consumers, water workers, and our natural world before it’s too late.”
The comments reflect wider concerns over Thames Water’s performance as pressure continues to mount over infrastructure resilience, service delivery and environmental standards.
Recent supply interruptions have caused inconvenience for households and businesses, while sewage spill records continue to attract criticism from environmental campaigners and local communities.
The renewed backlash comes as water companies across England face increasing public and political scrutiny over investment, maintenance and pollution levels.
For many Oxfordshire residents, the latest incident adds to concerns about whether essential water infrastructure is keeping pace with demand and whether enough is being done to prevent repeat failures.
