The polluted River Lee/Lea

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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on October 10, 2009 at 22:59

A poorly researched article. For example, it doesn't mention the rather central and important fact that there's a Statutory Body called the Lee Valley Regional Park which its website tells us, "is responsible for managing and developing the 26 mile long, 10,000 acre linear Lee Valley Regional Park - the only regional park serving London, Hertfordshire and Essex."

Leo Hickman does mention the problem of water pollution, and of human sewage flowing along the river and therefore through the heart of the Olympic site. But he seems to have failed to notice that this issue has been repeatedly raised by local newpapers - regularly by the Hackney Gazette with headlines like "Flushed Away"; and by the Hornsey Journal.

As one of the ward councillors, I've also raised the issue. The polluting Pymme's Brook enters the Lee close to Ferry Lane near Tottenham Hale Station. But it seems nobody really wants to know because tackling the problem will cost too much money.

I'm also astonished that Leo Hickman apparently failed to spot that in February 2007, BBC TV's Inside Out showed the results of an investigation by journalist David Akinsanya who'd moored his boat on the Lee for three years.

Leo Hickman tells us that a lot of the flow is treated sewage. But David Akinsanya found that considerable raw human sewage was also going into the river - often through misconnections over the years by dodgy builders. As David said: "Basically this waterway is becoming a communal lavatory and I'm living on it!"

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Permalink Reply by james walsh on October 10, 2009 at 23:27

I lived on the water at ferry Lane

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