Thames Water is in the dock after admitting to releases of sewage and polluted storm water in Kingston's Hogsmill River.

The discharge was first noted at 4.30am this morning (January 16) and Thames Water is yet to stop the outpour of sewage from Hogsmill which has now been running for over nine hours.

Hogsmill River is is home to a variety of fish species including dace, chub, eel and gudgeon as well as invertebrates that rely on the river for all or part of their life cycle such as mayflies, freshwater shrimp and damselflies. The release of sewage poses a direct threat to the river's inhabitants.

Horrified residents hit out at the discharges in response to the announcements.

One said described the releases as 'absolutely awful' and another said it was a 'disgusting example' of a failure by Thames Water and the government to protect rivers.

Thames Water's live event duration monitoring (EDM) storm discharge map reveals pollution incidents.

Just last week, the privatised water company admitted to the release of waste  into the Thames at Hammersmith, Isleworth and Petersham whilst Nub News exclusively revealed proposals from the company to transfer up to 150 million litres of water from above Teddington Lock and replace it with treated sewage.

The main proposals affecting south west London involve:

* Thames Water will set up a new abstraction point between Teddington Weir and Hampton Court to take between 50 megalitres per day and 150 megalitres per day out of the river Thames. It is not clear what this would look like.

* This water will be transferred through a new pipeline to an existing tunnel that runs beneath London and then on to reservoirs in the Lee Valley to supply homes and businesses in the east of London and beyond.

* The water taken out of the river will be replaced by treated effluent which will pumped into the Thames further down the river towards Teddington Weir.

* This water will come from the Mogden Water Treatment Works in Isleworth, which is set to undergo a multi-million pound redevelopment and expansion.

* Getting the treated sewer water from Mogden to the Thames near the weir will involve building a new 15km pipeline.

Thames Water is holding a public consultation at the Old Town Hall, Whittaker Avenue in Richmond today running from 2pm - 8pm. Details can be found here - https://thames-wrmp.co.uk/hearing-your-views/our-events/

Public consultation on the proposals is due to close on March 21.