Thames Water plans to restart desalination plant – after drought has ended

Utility company’s plant, which has only run five times, now has an estimated total cost of £500m

Thames Water is preparing the UK’s only desalination plant to restart operations later this year – but it will only be ready in the winter, long after the current drought is likely to have passed.

The utility company said that it was hoping to start operating its plant in Beckton, east London, “by the end of the year”, in order to help build up reservoir supplies over the winter for next summer.