Ofwat has informed Thames Water of its draft decision to allow £22.6 million funding for the London Water Recycling scheme (with the Teddington DRA as the preferred suboption), and to proceed to gate four of the RAPID process.

The funding is allowed for the London Water Recycling scheme to continue and progress to gate four as a single solution, with Teddington Direct River Abstraction (DRA) as the preferred suboption.

The additional allowances for completing gate four in the period 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2030 were determined as part of the Price Review 2024 process.

Ofwat has determined that all expenditure for Teddington DRA of £22.6 million is efficient and appropriate, and has allowed it in full.

The regulator has published its draft decision document setting out priority actions, actions and recommendations. Priority actions are those that should have been completed at gate three or which for other reasons need to be completed before gate four. These must now be addressed on a short timescale to make sure the solution stays on track or for other solution management reasons.

The gated assessment process is overseen by RAPID, with input from the partner regulators; Ofwat, the Environment Agency and the Drinking Water Inspectorate.

The Environment Agency, together with Natural England, have reviewed the environmental sections of the submissions, and provided feedback to RAPID.

Solution owners and all other interested parties can now respond to the draft decision either by email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or by completing this Microsoft Teams form. Deadline to submit representations is 6pm on 14 May 2025 – Ofwat said all representations will be considered before the final decision is published. Ofwat’s current aim is to publish the final decision on 16 July 2025.

Click here to download Strategic regional water resource solution: gate three draft decision for Thames Water