There is a hand coloured satirical engraving by William Heath (1828) at The British Museum entitled Monster soup commonly called Thames water, being a correct representation of that precious stuff doled out to us!!! It’s a great image! A title above the design reads: Microcosm dedicated to the London Water Companies. Brought forth all monstrous, all prodigious things, hydras and organs, and chimeras dire. It shows a lady discovering the quality of Thames river water, reflecting public concern at the time about increasing pollution in the water supply from the River Thames. [link to image] It seems sewage in our rivers has been an issue for many years!
I have been meaning to write this post for a while. With Mogden Sewage Works next to the Crane, and knowing Thames Water’s track record on sewage spills, thoughts of river hygiene occasionally flit through my mind while tramping up the river and burying things under the water. There is very little plant life on the river bed, and whilst I see the occasional fish, the river seems far from teeming with aquatic life.
So I have been looking into sewage on the Crane (not literally!).
There are apparently small and medium sized pollution incidents on the River Crane most years*. There were two major incidents (one a faulty sewage valve at Heathrow and one a damaged sewage pipe near Mogden) that caused devastating sewage discharges in 2011 and 2013 and killed nearly all downstream river life. The Environment Agency has worked to restock the river with thousands of fish, but each incident adds to the stress and demands placed on the whole ecosystem of the river.
But I wonder whether Thames Water regularly dispel ‘storm sewage’ into the River Crane? There’s a lot in the news about the water companies’ appalling practice of storm sewage discharge. This happens when there is prolonged rain or a storm and the rainwater enters the sewers and floods the sewage storage tanks at the treatment plant. This ‘soup’ of rainwater and raw sewage is then discharged by the water companies into our rivers and seas.
Here is a fascinating real time interactive map of Thames Water Storm Discharges – [link to interactive map]. I have to say I have become a bit obsessed with reading it – and am shocked and heartbroken to see how often and how many places are discharging across the Thames Valley even when we have not had appreciable rainfall. In the meantime water company bosses have been enjoying massive bonuses, dividends and profits.
EDM Map, Storm Discharges Data, 23 February
The good news for the Crane is that Thames Water does not discharge storm sewage from Mogden Sewage Treatment Works directly into the River Crane. The bad news is that Thames Water does discharge storm sewage into the Thames just north of the River Crane. Critically just downstream on the Thames, there could be some tidal influx…
EDM Map, Storm Discharges Data, 23 February
Petition
The fact that billions of litres of raw sewage are being dumped into our rivers, seas and streams is a disgusting state of affairs. But with an election coming up this year, there is a chance to change things. We can write to MPs and DEFRA. There is also a petition from the pressure group 38 Degrees: “The next Government should fine water companies in shares, not just their bonuses and profits. If they fail to clean up their act, renationalise them and their profits – and let’s clean up the mess once and for all.” Every name on it counts: after 10,000 signatures, petitions get a response from the government. After 100,000 signatures, petitions are considered for debate in Parliament. So far there are 55,000 signatures. [link to petition]
Household misconnections
River Crane Smarter Water Catchment Programme (SWC)* has identified “major pollution pulses coming into the river, that are likely to be caused by cross-connections from the sewerage system into the river.” Properties are misconnected when sewage systems are plumbed into the surface water drainage system (meant for clean rainwater) instead of the proper sewage outlet. But also Identifying the misconnected drains is now one of the objectives of SWC in order to reduce sewage pollution in the river.
There is something called the Crane Valley Outfall Safari run by Zoological Society of London, in which volunteers (and I am one such…) log and map outfalls into the river along an assigned stretch. ZSL say “An estimated 3% of houses in greater London have misconnections so this is a serious problem that is degrading the health of our urban rivers.”
So that’s a bit on sewage – there is oh so much more information out there! But I want to say, in spite of the polluting efforts of disreputable water companies, disastrous accidents and mismanaged household connections, the river is an amazing wildlife corridor which just keeps on giving! It has recovered from one polluting event after another and still it has a huge range of marginal plants and wildlife (including kingfishers, water voles, eels and seven types of bat). We just need to protect it more as it’s an invaluable site and if we are not careful, pollution will win (I haven’t even got started on runoff pollution from Heathrow and major roads – but that’s for another time…).
Links below are to
* State of the Environment Report of the River Crane Smarter Water Catchment Programme 2022
Fish and Fishing on the Crane and Dukes River 2014
