Mogden: Anti-Smell Project on Schedule

12.47.49pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 12th Jul 2007

The big investment in odour control at Mogden is on track, with the covering of the main sources of odour completed, on schedule, before the end of next year.

Vincent Cable MP was taken on a guided tour of the workers by Nick Fawcett and the project team and Thames Water to observe progress on the odour control project and to look at the site of the west of the site - where expansion is to take place.

Vincent Cable said: "I was pleasantly surprised at the progress that has been made. As a long standing critic of Thames Water I have to acknowledge that they have honoured their undertaking to the local community, and by the Government to me in Parliament, to invest in new technology to cover the main odour generating areas and extract the smells. If the equipment works as it should there should be an end to the periodic appalling smell settling over St Margaret's and parts of Twickenham and Whitton."

The Thames Water team also described the plans for expanding capacity: "The aim is an environmentally good one, which is to reduce substantially the current practice of releasing untreated sewage into the Thames because the works can't handle the volume, particularly after heavy rain. The population is, of course, growing too. The expansion is part of a much bigger project to reduce river discharges."