Stop river sewage dumps
Thames Water is continuing to dump sewage in our local rivers: the Wandle, Graveney and Thames.
We are exploring a number of ways to stop it:
- Resist new dumping plans
- Raise awareness of the dumps and the damage they cause
- Pressure local and national government to pass new laws
- Push for greater investment in capacity
- Remove the financial incentive water companies have to dump
- Impose a sewage tax to fund clean-up of damage already caused
If this is something you feel is important, please provide us with your details below. If you want to help financially, please consider donating. We are a voluntary organisation and every penny helps.
Sign up to stop sewage dumping
We are working to bring an end to sewage dumps in our rivers. If you wish to be updated on our efforts, or get involved in the campaign, please provide us with your details.
More information
Thames Water is continuing to dump sewage in our rivers and has also announced a new plan to replace millions of litres of Thames river water every day with effluent
Thames Water has published new plans to remove millions of litres of water a day out of the Thames and replace it with treated sewage from one of its plants.
The water will be drawn from the river next to Hampton Court Palace in Kingston and replaced with effluent from Thames Water’s sewage plant in Mogden, close to Twickenham rugby stadium.
The proposal - which Wandsworth LibDems will be opposing - was rejected three years ago because of its environmental impact.
But with water companies going unchallenged despite increasing their dumps of raw sewage into local rivers, the plan has been reborn.
We urge you to join our campaign to stop the new sewage plan, as well as force Thames Water to cut back its frequent dumps into local Wandsworth rivers, the Wandle and Graveney.
On the day we wrote this, Thames Water dumped sewage into the River Graveney (which joins the Wandle) close to St George’s Hospital in Tooting for 45 minutes, and did the same for 1 hour and 45 minutes further downstream in Furzedown - as part of what it calls “storm relief.”
We know from tracking these releases that they have become increasingly common. They are a direct result of water companies having failed to upgrade treatment plants.
Thames Water made £398m in 2022: money that was supposed to have been spent on making sure the sewage plants could handle demand. But the money wasn’t spent and the plants now regularly overfill - with the excess sewage dumped into our rivers.
We will be fighting this appalling situation on your behalf.
Thames Water is obliged to publish its plans and hold public meetings. The Liberal Democrats will be attending those meetings where we will argue for improvements and greater accountability.
We are also pushing for a 16 per cent ‘Sewage Tax’ on water companies to create an emergency fund that will pay for clean-ups across the country.
We encourage you to attend any meetings and comment on the plans, but recognise you may not have the time.
If you think the situation is wrong and want to do something about it, please join us by signing up for our campaign and/or donating to our efforts.