Grey sewage fungus coats the plants in the Moselle River. It feeds on the pollution from homes. Lordship Recreation Ground, Haringey

Our environmental laws are hard won and too precious to be allowed to wither or weaken.

That’s why we need Haringey Council to stand up for the only river entirely within the Borough. Haringey Council’s decision to employ someone to stop human sewage polluting the Moselle River will see it start to recover.

This pollution is most obvious where the Moselle flows through Lordship Recreation Ground, next to the Broadwater Farm Estate in Tottenham. You smell the river before you see it and its banks are dotted by stark signs that shout “Polluted Waters”.

What makes the Moselle’s plight more of a puzzle is that millions of pounds has been spent improving Lordship Rec. In addition the Environment Agency and Thames Water have spent thousands of pounds tracking down the sources of contamination. Yet the problem is just as bad.

Where the pollution from Muswell Hill, Hornsey and Wood Green enters Lordship Rec, turning the Moselle River into a cesspool

The origin of the foul water that spoils the Moselle is no secret. It comes from countless homes upstream of Lordship Rec – Muswell Hill, Hornsey and Wood Green. Wastewater from washing machines, sinks and toilets is meant to go into the sewers and then to the sewage treatment plant. Instead it is going straight to the river. Homes in this part of Haringey have two sets of pipes. Dirty water should go into the soil pipe that leads to the sewage works. Drainpipes take the rain that falls on roofs, along with road run-off, to drains that pour into the Moselle.

Thames Water has been locating the homes that have joined their dirty water pipes to the Drainpipe for years. When they find the homes that are breaking the law they knock on the door and let them know. Most people have no idea they are polluting their local river. The property owner is responsible for sorting out the pipe misconnection or they’ll face a hefty fine; it’s a criminal offence to pollute a river.

85% of people rectify the problem soon after finding out. They are unknowing polluters. Most misconnections costs less than a couple of hundred pounds to fix.

The remaining 15% of misconnection cases that are not resolved at this stage are handed over to the local authority. The Council is the enforcement body. Haringey Council has been neglecting its responsibility under the 1984 Building Act. The Act states that the Council may “…require the owner or the occupier of those premises to execute such work as may be necessary to remedy the matter.” (Section 60 Part 4). Sadly Haringey Council has failed to do this effectively.

London Waterkeeper made a Freedom of Information request. This has revealed that Haringey’s efforts have been so poor there is a backlog of 678 cases, some dating back more than 7 years. This means that Haringey alone has 70% of these pollution cases for the entire Thames Region.

In 2013 Thames Water completed a 5 year study into the problem. An area containing 18,000 properties was surveyed. Just a few months after being handed this report Haringey Council cut the funding for the misconnections referrals post, right at the time when it would have made the most impact. Instead of the situation improving the Moselle is just as polluted and people living near to Lordship Rec are at risk of coming into contact with water teeming with e-coli bacteria.

The solution is simple. All the Council has to do is write more letters. The Freedom of Information request reveals “…written communication to the correct person was all that was required to get the appropriate works carried out.” So people don’t need to be hauled through the courts and prosecuted. They just need to be reminded of their legal duty to not pollute a river. And connect their wastewater pipes to the sewer.

London Waterkeeper drew attention to the problem on May 20th 2015. Less than two months later the Council has decided to employ an officer to start work on the misconnections problem. This is great news, every home that connects its pipes properly will see less pollution entering the Moselle River.

London Waterkeeper will keep in touch with Haringey Council to see what progress they make over the coming months.

 

Freedom of Information request