London section of River Thames ‘worst place for sewage’
The part of the Thames which runs through London is the “worst for sewage”, a clean water campaign group has said.
The Henley Mermaids, a group of five women who regularly swim in the river, have called for Thames Water “to be bought back into permanent public ownership”.
They are fed up with how dirty the water is, particularly in the capital, where they say they have to swim in water filled with the likes of “condoms, sanitary products and paper”.
Laura Reineke told BBC London: “We are still swimming in it but we are not putting our heads in and we're being very careful indeed.
“There’s even a toilet cassette from a boat. It's absolutely filthy, I've never seen it so filthy.”
Thames Water has stressed that there has been “higher than average long-term rainfall across London and the Thames Valley with groundwater levels exceptionally high”. It comes afterthe water company has made headlines, yet again, for high levels of E.coli being detected in the part of the river used for the annual race between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge.
The Oxford rowing team captain Leonard Jenkins complained about how much “poo” was in the river after his team’s loss last weekend.
He said: “This morning I was throwing up and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to race.
“I kept that quiet and ultimately that’s on my shoulders, it may not have been the right choice because I didn’t have my all to give in that race.
“It would be a lot nicer if there wasn’t as much poo in the water.
“It’s not to take away from Cambridge, as we may not have beaten them even if we were all on top form.”
Regular testing conducted by River Action and the Fulham Reach Boat Club between February 28 and March 26 detected E. coli, which can cause serious infections.
The 16 tests around Hammersmith Bridge in west London indicated an average of 2,869 E.coli colony forming units (CFU) per 100ml of water.
The Environment Agency’s quality standards level requires below 1,000 CFU per 100ml.
The highest level recorded was 9,801 CFU per 100ml, nearly 10 times higher than levels graded as “poor” by the regulator.
A Thames Water spokesperson said: "We have experienced higher than average long-term rainfall across London and the Thames Valley with groundwater levels exceptionally high for the time of the year.
“Taking action to improve the health of rivers is a key focus for us and we want to lead the way with our transparent approach to data."
River Action said the testing locations in its research suggested the source of pollution is from Thames Water discharging sewage directly into the river and its tributaries.
It comes as villagers claimed Thames Water allowed raw sewage to pump into the Thames in Oxfordshire for 53 days consecutively.
Locals in South Moreton told the MailOnline that the sewage spilling near Mill Brook has “killed everything in the river”.
The Environment Agency has said the plant is struggling with an “asset maintenance issue” – reportedly cracks and holes in pipes which cause high numbers of spills.
Thames Water says it plans to upgrade the South Moreton sewage works in 2026.
A spokesperson said: “Taking action to improve the health of rivers is a key focus for us and we want to lead the way with our transparent approach to data. We remain the only company to provide live alerts for all untreated discharges and this ‘near real-time’ data is available to customers as a map on our website and is also available through an open data platform for third parties, such as swimming and environmental groups to use.
“We have experienced higher than average long-term rainfall across London and the Thames Valley with groundwater levels exceptionally high for the time of the year.
“We’re taking action to reduce discharges and have led the industry in this area with the building of the Thames Tideway Tunnel, a £4.5 billion investment, which is nearing completion and will remove 24 combined sewer overflows from the tidal Thames. This project, alongside previous upgrades to our London sewage treatment sites and the £700million connection from Abbey Mills pumping station to our sewage treatment works at Beckton (the Lee Tunnel) which has been in operation since 2016, will capture 95% of the volume of untreated sewage currently entering the tidal Thames in a typical year.
“We remain the only company to publish an online map providing close to real-time information about storm discharges from all of our permitted locations and this ‘near real-time’ data is available to customers as a map on our website. This is also available through an open data platform for third parties, such as swimming and environmental groups, to use.
“We have also published plans to upgrade over 250 of our sewage treatment works and sewers. In London, we have started the £100 million upgrade of Mogden sewage treatment works, which will increase capacity and reduce the number of storm discharges from the site, and we’re also spending £145 million upgrading Beckton sewage works. We’re also currently increasing sewage treatment capacity at a number of our other sewage works across the Thames Valley.”