600 million litres of sewage entering river flowing through London each year, shock study finds

Around 600million litres of sewage-contaminated water enters the River Roding and its tributaries each year, according to a new study.

The research indicates that sewer misconnections and faulty drainage infrastructure are causing 240 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of sewage to flow directly into the river annually.

Environmental charities Thames21 and the the River Roding Trust monitored more than 70 outfalls and tributaries over a six-month period.

Cran Brook was highlighted as the single most significant source of sewage pollution, which is caused by a mix of faulty infrastructure, “widespread misconnections,” and seepage from a landfill.

Sewer misconnections occur when wastewater from toilets, bathrooms or kitchens is incorrectly connected to a surface water drain, the charities say.

They are now calling on Redbridge Council , Thames Water and the Environment Agency to “urgently accelerate investigations and rectify these chronic sources of pollution”.

However, Thames Water says that while it is working on solving the issue, it may take a year up to a year.

Cran Brook was highlighted as the single most significant source of sewage pollution Thames21 / LDRS Chris Coode, the CEO of Thames21, said people deserve “clean and healthy rivers” amid an “unacceptable threat to water quality, wildlife and local communities”.

“Six-hundred-million litres is a staggering figure and a disastrous threat to this precious river and its tributaries.

“Particularly concerning is the evidence of pollution entering the River Roding and its tributaries during dry weather. This highlights the urgent need for all river stakeholders to tackle misconnections and to identify and address the other sources of pollution entering the catchment.”

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Paul Powlesland, founder of the River Roding Trust, said: “The River Roding is now the first river in England where we know the location of all the illegal sewage outfalls and, crucially, can scientifically rank them in order of harm.

“We now need Thames Water and the Environment Agency to fix the most damaging illegal outfalls as a matter of emergency.”

A spokesperson for Thames Water told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it was undertaking a surface water outfall programme (SWOP) and had so far “identified a large proportion of the area is showing signs of pollution, the majority of which are due to third-party misconnections in private households and buildings”.