Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Love the Lee: the state of London's second river
Thames 21, a charity that campaigns for London's waterways, detail the state of the Lee River:
Raw sewage is flowing through Tottenham, Clapton and Hackney.
Off the scale levels of phosphates are causing the River Lee to choke with weed every year.
The health of the River Lee is the responsibility of all of us, and it's time to take action.
Through the plughole
The East End’s biggest river is being treated like an open sewer, and as the pressures on the sewage system increase the problem will only get worse.
It’s how we treat our wastewater that’s the problem.
We all need to care what happens to the things we wash down the plughole and what happens when we flush the toilet.When it rains, sewage works can’t process the large amounts of wastewater, so pump it into the River Lee. The pipes from countless homes in the Lower Lee Valley are misconnected, so people are flushing sewage and detergents into the river without knowing it.
This is damaging the Lee – with less fish caught year on year.
The Hard Facts
Reserach by Thames21 and University College London show the amount of faecal e-coli bacteria in the River Lee more than 80 times the recommended level.
Water samples with laboratory tests have been taken regularly in the last 6 months by Thames21, in partnership with University College London.
At times there are more than 4 million e-coli colonies in 100 ml of river water - worse than many parts of the River Ganges in India
Phosphates are in dishwasher tablets and detergents, and because so many homes are misconnected, large amounts of this chemical end up in the river, poisoning the water.
Rethinking wastewater
The Lee is in a critical state, so we need to start acting now. Our sewer systems must be upgraded, and we need to cut the amount of stormwater that goes down the drain, flooding the sewers.
Some improvements will take longer to make, but we can all start reducing the problem now.It is a global crisis, so we have twinned the River Lee with the River Buriganga in Bangladesh, the Yamuna in India and the Yellow River in China through the Waterkeeper Alliance.
Thames21 is leading the call for a new way to deal with wastewater.
One that uses rainwater instead of just pouring it into the sewers.
That uses the environment to soak up the rainwater, reducing the flooding risk.
A way that sees our sewage treated properly and not pumped into the River Lee.
Here's a few things that can be done:
Tags for Forum Posts: Lea, Lee, misconnected drains, river lee, rivers
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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I've seen references to this Thames21 campaign.
Unfortunately, the problems of pollution of the River Lee are long-standing and well known. They are raised from time to time in official reports; press stories; and at one point in a BBC news item.
A few years ago I'd hoped that the prominence of the River to the Olympic site would have led to drastic and comprehensive action. But I'm not aware of any such programme. Which isn't to dismiss valuable steps which have been taken. For example, Thames Water has stepped-up its programme to tackle misconnections which send sewage into the storm drainage systems.
I wasn't aware of the involvement of University College researchers. (Haringey staff may know about this but I don't recall a briefing from them, as one of the councillors for the three Haringey wards adjoining the Lee.)
I'm now made contact with Thames 21 to try to find out more about this research. If anyone else has information, please add to this thread; or post any helpful links.
(Tottenham Hale ward councillor)
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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I know that at the start of last year a company contracted by Thames Water was investigating house plumbing on the Ladder.
Apparently sometimes when houses are converted to flats, domestic waste water (grey water) is incorrectly channeled into the rainwater drain. Proper waste water drains channel into the sewer system. Rainwater drains (designed for taking water from roof guttering) just release the water into the ground. Apparently, much of the water so released subsequently finds its way the the Lee. So where domestic waste water is channelled incorrectly into rainwater drains, it will eventually end up in the Lee. I was told that it's a significant pollution contributor.
There was an issue with a house near to mine. As far as I can see no enforcement action has been taken, despite a follow-up call from me. So it would be nice to know to what extent they're enforcing the plumbing work required.
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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There is a short term way to stop overflowing waste water.. by floating tanks in the river to store the waste before it enters the river.. we have the same problem in parts of Berlin.. here's a short film about the tanks to be fitted this year:
http://www.spree2011.de/de/projekt/pilotanlage/technik/
and the main page: http://www.spree2011.de/de/projekt/beschreibung/
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Stephen, many thanks for linking to this. Though my lack of German means I can't follow the video. Using Google Translate for the sequence of slides is works fine. But they don't explain how the temporarily stored sewage/stormwater in the overflow tanks will be treated before release into the River. Or if it is pumped out.
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Hi Alan, not sure what you mean by the slides .. so here's my translation of what I think are the most important parts of the film:
Wenn es in Städten zu starken Regenfälle, ist die Kapazität der Kanalisation schnell erschöpft. Abwasser, das aus Regen- und haushaltsabwasser besteht,wird dann ungeklärt in die Gewässer geleitet. Um diese Einleitung zu reduzieren, werden bislang unterirdische Regenüberlaufbecken aus Stahlbeton gebaut.
If it rains too much in cities, the capacity of the sewer system soon becomes exhausted. Wastewater consists of rainwater and household wastewater which is then discharged untreated into rivers. Up till now, to reduce this, reinforced concrete underground storm water basins have been built.
Der Bau dieser Becken ist aufwendig und teuer. Im Rahmen des Forschungsprojekts Spree2011 wird eine neue Technik entwickelt. Ein Modulsystem, das direkt im Gewässer an den Einleitungsstellen der Kanalisation installiert wird.
The construction of these basins is complicated and expensive. As part of the research project Spree2011 a new technology has been developed. A modular system that is installed directly in the water at the sewage discharge points.Kern des Systems sind Rohre aus glasfaserverstärtem Kunststoff, die in einen Stahlrahmen eingehängt wird.
The core of the system are glass-fibre reinforced plastic tubes mounted in a steel frame.
Bei starken Regenfällen füllt sich die Anlage mit Regenwasser..
During heavy rain, the system fills with rainwater..
Die Pilotanlage wird voraussichtlich 28 mal im Jahr gefüllt
It is expected that the pilot plant will be used 28 times a year..
Die Abwasser bleibt in die Anlage, bis die Kanalisation - im Schnitt nach 6 Stunden - wieder frei ist
The wastewater remains in the system until the sewer system is free again (on average, 6 hours)
Das leerpumpen der Anlage dauert rund 5 Stunden
To pump out the system takes approximately 5 hours (My add: back into the sewers)
Nach der Leerung werden Rohre gespüllt
After emptying the tubes are rinsed thoroughly
Dazu werden am Ende der Rohre Schieber geöffnet
Slides at the end of the tubes are opened
Flusswasser schießt mit großem Druck ein und reinigt die Anlage
Pressurised river water is used to cleanse the system
Dieser Vorgang wird bis zum 6 mal wiederholt
This process is repeated up to 6 times
Das Spülwasser wird mit den gelösten Rückständen über die Kanalistaion zum Klärwerk geführt und dort gereinigt
The water used for rinsing along with the dissolved residues are directed via the sewers to the sewage treatment plant where it is purified..
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Thanks, Stephen. Very helpful.
By "slides" I meant the pages which are displayed in sequence when clicking the link you gave as the "main page" and then on the small white triangles. I used Google Translate which fetched me a cold glass of German Beer and then translated each page.
It left out the information, which you added, that the sewage-contaminated water is later pumped back into sewage system.
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Permalink Reply by h4k on
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We had Thames water doing house to house inspections (Woodlands Park area) so I assumed this was all being addressed.
In response to Hugh - not only conversions affected by any means. Lots of properties in my road had minor infringements. I had two sinks where the waste water was going to the wrong place (those dear builders I had many years ago). The real issues are toilets or washing machines wrongly plumbed in.
Thames Water were very keen to enforce and follow up.
Haven't other roads had these checks ?
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Permalink Reply by Andrew on
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We were inspected and told to do remedial work on Hewitt Road, so I think they were doing it - this was about 2 years ago. Although after we'd done the work, they never came back to check and to make sure we'd complied.
Not sure when our plumbing was done - but it was pre-2002 when we moved in
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Yup, I think that's what happened with the rental property near me Andrew. They were told to do it, but the work was never enforced.
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If Inspections are followed by owners doing the work needed, this could bring significant improvement. But if it relies solely on the honesty of owners, the less scrupulous will avoid or postpone doing the works. As will owners without the cash.
So enforcement has to happen. Or the problem may get worse if more houses or flats have work done by on the cheap by 'cowboy' contractors.
It also seems to me that, if it doesn't exist already, we need a publicly available register showing if and when inspections took place and the works which were required. Potential purchasers and their surveyors and solicitors can then ask about the specifics.
Are there any conveyancing solicitors on HoL who could suggest how the law could be amended to require every sale/purchase of land to show that sewage connections are legal?
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