Welcome to Safiya Egeh, our first River Project Coordinator. Safiya is working on the Drain Shame campaign. With generous funding from the Network of Social Change we are now able to develop the next phase of the work.

The Wealdstone Brook, the sickest of London’s rivers?

For two months this small north west London river has been polluted with sewage. It’s thought the source is a misconnected property. The photo shows the river bed coated with grey sewage fungus. Thames Water is trying to find where the pollution originates.
The pollution of the river, and other rivers in the Brent catchment has been a problem for decades. London Waterkeeper and local campaigners have seen less and less involvement of the regulator, the Environment Agency. There is a an effective coalition of people that care about the river, but at the point they need the Environment Agency most, they feel abandoned. We will be investigating why the regulator is failing to meet its statutory duty. Ultimately this could see the case being referred to the Office for Environmental Protection.

Legal case:

London Waterkeeper has intervened in a legal case between the water company United Utilities and the Manchester Ship Canal. For years the two bodies have contested whether sewer overflows should be allowed into the water body. This dispute has gone all the way to the Court of Appeal. The action has been brought by the Good Law Project.
United Utilities wants the Court to rule that private prosecutions can’t be brought against it for these overflows. If that happens it would have national significance, protecting all water companies from this legal action. No civil actions could be brought by anglers, swimmers, landowners or other users. All the evidence has been heard and we await the ruling.
We are one of five organisations intervening.

SAS protest:

Tomorrow, Surfers Against Sewage is hosting a protest against sewer overflows from Thames Water. It is one of several being held across the country.
Details: 1pm-3pm. Saturday 23rd April, Assemble London, Victoria Embankment Garden, Villiers Street, WC2N 6NS.
London Waterkeeper is part of the EndSewagePollution coalition. We are calling for:
  1. Stronger and bolder targets to end untreated sewage discharge

  2. An enhanced testing regime which shows a true picture of the UKs water quality

  3. Nature restoration to reduce pressure & minimise impacts on sewage infrastructure

  4. Increased investment in industry infrastructure to prevent destructive practices

Sewer overflow consultation:

The Government has to produce a Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan by September of this year, as required by the Environment Act 2021. Defra has launched its consultation on the targets the water industry will be set. They want people’s views on these, by the 12th of May.
It looks like urban rivers are going to be failed by regulators & government. Their plan to cut sewer overflows will focus on ‘high priority’ waterbodies. Few of these are in places like London.
The fact that these “high priority” habitats aren’t already being protected shows you how badly we are being failed.
These sites include Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), eutrophic sensitive areas, chalk streams, waters currently failing their ecological standards due to storm overflows and designated bathing areas.
However, unless the Government fully enacts Schedule 3 to the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 it will be difficult to meet its targets. The Government is reviewing the implementation of Schedule 3, something it has refused to do so far.
This clause would require new developments to use sustainable drainage to soak up rain and remove the automatic right to connect to the public sewer system.