Chris Weston said Thames wanted "to do better" but some of its targets were not achievable.

The boss of Thames Water has claimed targets the company has been set over things like leakages are "not realistic". Thames has been criticised for its performance in recent years following a series of sewage discharges and leaks, and last year was fined a record £122.7m by regulator Ofwat, most of which was for breaching sewage spills rules. Chris Weston said Thames wanted "to do better" but said some of its targets were not achievable. Ofwat said company targets were "intended to be ambitious", while an environmental group said sewage pollution should not be accepted as inevitable. Thames, which has struggled for years under billions of pounds of debt, faces being put in a form of temporary nationalisation known as a special administration regime. But Weston said if that were to happen, there was a risk the taxpayer would have to bear the cost of funding it, and instead backed a rescue deal put forward by the firm's lenders. It is illegal to release raw sewage into rivers and seas during "normal" weather conditions, but firms are allowed to do so when it rains heavily, to prevent homes being flooded. Thames is the UK's largest water company, supplying water and wastewater services to 16 million customers across London and parts of southern England.