Thanks to the Big Give Trust donations to London Waterkeeper will be doubled until Tuesday the 29th April (ends midday). DONATE HERE!

London Waterkeeper is pushing Thames Water to use the best options to stop sewage pollution.
The company recently announced plans to spend £1.8bn to cut spills to rivers from 26 sewer overflows in London. But it didn't say how it would do this, which worried us.
Cities around the world are creating vegetated areas to stop rain from making sewers discharge. We need that here.
We sent them a legally binding information request and they have told us that they are “considering” green infrastructure as the main solution for 22 of these overflows. We welcome these words but we need them to COMMIT to using resilient choices.
We don't want greenwash, we need you to help us make sure Thames Water fully investigates these options. Hold them to account here. 

We are proud to have been chosen as the Charity of the Year by Waterscan. The company advises sectors like retail, industrial manufacturing and food and drink manufacturing how to reduce their water use.
Our CEO, Theo Thomas will also be speaking at their conference in June, 'WaterMatters'. Tickets can be booked here. 
We are also grateful to all those that fund our work. We have received grants from Garfield Weston, Patagonia Clothing, All Aboard Shops and philanthropist Anne Robbins.

These photos are of the same river, more than ten years apart. Still just as polluted. Failed by the authorities. The plants are covered in sewage fungus, which grows on the pollution from homes with illegal connections.

Homes polluting rivers across London. Case Study: The Moselle in Haringey
The Moselle and all rivers across London have been failed by Ofwat, the Environment Agency and Thames Water. The Moselle in Lordship Recreation Ground is just as polluted now as it ever was.

The grey feathery growth coating the river plants is called sewage fungus. It feeds on the nutrients in wastewater. Thousands of properties have plumbed their washing machines, dishwashers, toilets etc into the drainpipe. It is just meant for rain. This wastewater should go to a sewage works for treatment of course. In two thirds of London there are separate pipes. One for sewage and one for rain. The latter flow under streets to outfalls that empty into a river. Connecting wastewater to it is a crime, breaking the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016. But the Environment Agency won't use this law to tackle the problem.

London Zoo surveys rivers and estimates there are more than 1,000 outfalls that take wastewater from properties across the capital and dump it in our rivers. It’s the property owner that is breaking the law, not Thames Water.

Thames Water has the job of finding these houses or blocks of flats but Ofwat hasn’t allowed the company enough money to fund more detective work. The same number of outfalls are to be cleaned up in the next five years as were from 2015-2020. On the 13th March this year, at a meeting hosted by the Mayor of London, Thames Water confirmed the target will stick at 200. This isn’t good enough. In 2018 we pressed Thames Water to increase the target for 2020-25 and hundreds of people backed our called. They upped it to 750. But Ofwat didn’t allow a bill increase to cover this work.

We need the Environment Agency to use the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016. Not against individual homeowners but big property developers, if their blocks of flats pollute rivers. This would deter sloppy building work and send a strong message. Currently developers get away with it. It would increase awareness of the problem and change the perception that this pollution is an accident when it is negligence.