Fears for the future of the area's rivers and wildlife from repeated releases of raw sewage by Thames Water have been raised by council chiefs.

Councillors and local MPs are concerned about the operation of the Mogden Works, which has been accused of blighting both local waterways and the atmosphere with its distinctive pong.

Earlier this year, Thames Water was condemned for delays in cleaning up a devastating storm water sewage spill into the Duke of Northumberland's River and on to the Thames.

The fragile river environment was littered with plastic bags and other waste some three weeks after the incident, which was caused by a serious failure at the Mogden sewage works.

Currently, both the Environment Agency and the water industry regulator, Ofwat, are investigating allegations that discharges from sewage works across the country have been much higher in recent years than admitted by water companies.

An attempt to impose a legal duty on water companies to stop untreated sewage being discharged into rivers was recently voted down by the government.

Following an outcry, the Government and Conservative MPs voted in favour of an alternative proposal for a 'progressive reduction' in the discharges rather than elimination.

At a recent council meeting, a motion, moved by Councillor Julia Neden-Watts and seconded by Councillor Lotte Campanale, was passed to highlight the damage that releases of untreated sewage cause.

Councillor Neden-Watts said the government's more lenient approach to the problem, 'makes light of the scale of raw sewage pumped into our waters'.

She said, as things stand: "I fear the situation will continue with legal release of sewage into rivers after heavy rain, and little incentive or requirement to do anything radically different."

Councillors stressed that the discharges are also a threat to human health given the fact that wild swimming, kayaking and paddle boarding are becoming increasingly popular.

The Twickenham MP, Munira Wilson, recently raised her concerns about Mogden on a visit to the plant, which receives sewage from 2.17m people across west London.

The site treats 12,314 litres of sewage per second but will need to invest £100m over the next three years to support population growth.

The MP was given a tour of the facility and shown the storm tanks, which are used to store excess wastewater during periods of heavy rain.

She said: "Discharge into the river should be an extremely rare occurrence and I urged Thames Water to do everything in their power to reduce the number and scale of these incidents."

Another concern of local residents over the years has been the smell and the MP emphasised the negative impact this has on surrounding communities. Thames Water says it has odour monitoring systems in place and it investigates complaints.