Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Sick Rivers: the Lea and Moselle
A video by @TheoJThomas of the damage done by pollution to the Lea and Moselle, taken at Markfield Park last October.
It was raining. And all the pollution was being washed down the Moselle River and Stonebridge Brook into the River Lea at Markfield Park in Tottenham. It was disgusting and you could see the damage being done in front of you. It's not just when it rains this happens, but all the time. The rain increases the volume making it easier to see.
Tags for Forum Posts: lea, misconnected drains, moselle, pollution, river lea
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by pamish on
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and this is the same canal a bit further downstream, at Springfield marina, taken last November.
This algal growth had got a lost worse since I was last there. The leafy growth is on top of the water, across the whole width of the canal, with just a narrow channel through it. It’s caused a bit by neglect – someone should clear it off, but who? But mostly it’s because of phosphates from soaps and industrial pollution, neither of which should go into the canal or river. I'm told that badly built domestic drainage is a main cause, I only found out this year that most places have two sewers, one to take rainwater run-off from roads and roofs, which goes straight into the river, and one to take foul water that gets treatment. Bodged DIY jobs take bathwater etc into the ‘clean’ sewer and help make this happen. Bad DIY-ers and cheap builders.
Who has the unenviable job of cleaning out the crap at the Moselle exit as seen in the video? British Waterways is as cash strapped as any other quango, but they charge boat owners to live on the water at about five times the rate of a car owner to sit on on the road.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Yup, incorrectly connected domestic drainage is a huge issue. When conversions were done, lots of kitchen and bathroom waste pipes were directed to rainwater drains rather than the main drains. Anything going into them just soaks into the ground and from there gets washed into the local rivers.
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No, not urban myth. It's a real issue that I've spoken to both the Department of the Environment and Haringey's Environmental Service about. I was amazed at how very seriously they both take the issue and how eager they are to tackle it.
Here's The Guardian on the issue last December.
PS: I think the "one London borough" mentioned is Haringey, BTW.
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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The Standard article I posted about below is about the same thing
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Permalink Reply by ant on
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Coincidentally I've just had a letter from Thames Water this morning about exactly this. They say they have been monitoring sources of pollution in the area where foul water drains have been misconducted to the surface water system and our house is in an area where further investigation is need. They want to come around to all the houses putting dye in the drains to trace where the waste water goes.
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Permalink Reply by linka on
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They've started to come round, yesterday and today.
I think it's continuing, but they knocked it off today on account of their spare wheel being nicked from their van on one of the Gardens cross streets (they told me).
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Permalink Reply by Isabelle on
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Thames Water came to visit our converted house well over a year ago (two years?) and spotted incorrectly connected pipes on one of the flats... but nothing has been done about it! I don't even think that the landlord got notified.
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Posted on this a couple of times. Last time was in October on misconnected drains and the Lea (and the Thames)
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Permalink Reply by StephenBln on
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Thanks for the Link to the video Liz. That's exactly how I remember it 40 years ago.. so not much has changed then. Back then tho', the river Lea still had timber industrial units along it - which also contributed to the smell of the area.
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Permalink Reply by Madeline on
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I used to live on a narrowboat on the Lea between Stonebridge and Tottenham locks about 50 years ago. The smell that would come from the "Black Ditch" as we called it could be horrendous and it was well named, the water was always black. You could really see the difference in colour where it met the Lea just below Tottenham lock. Below that the Lea was a dead river, no fish and very few birds. Any swans that strayed there had a black oil line around their water mark.
Although I agree that it's a dirty solution to water disposal I must say that it's a lot cleaner now than it was then.
I have two tales of unauthorised disposal into the rain water system. The first being this (terraced) house. It was totally demolished in 1980 and rebuilt (by/for the council) with only the two neighbouring walls being kept. Another house two doors up had the same transformation. I moved in in 82 and straight away I noticed a problem with the rainwater drain at the back of the property that kept getting blocked. The council sent someone round who's solution to the problem was to break a 'trap' that was just under the open drain cover. After that I noticed things that I shouldn't have floating by, obviously not rain water connected if you know what I mean. My conclusion is that the cowboy builders that the council employed have plumbed sewerage into the rain water system in at least five properties.
The other is that after changing the oil in my M/B I took it down to the local garage/repair shop at the bottom of the road for disposal. He looked at me as if I was mad and promptly poured the oil down the drain. I was mad then. If I'd wanted to do that I could have done it myself but I knew exactly where it was going to end up.
It's good to know that the water board are trying to trace these sources of pollution but it's going to be one heck of a job.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Many thanks to Theo Thomas and Thames21 for their campaigning, education work and voluntary action on the River Lee/Lea and its tributaries.
As well as campaigning organisations, it seems to me that it would be very useful to have a comprehensive, authoritative and trusted source of information about the streams and rivers of Haringey. Maybe one exists. In which case I'd appreciate a link or links. (Wikipedia is generally helpful but is occasionally wrong. Individual blogs are often interesting and informative; but sometimes recycle the same information - and misinformation.)
We have a particular interest. One of the culverted streams of the Moselle runs under an alley behind our garden.
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Just for clarification, British Waterways ceased to exist in July 2012. A new body, the Canal & River Trust (CRT) took its place.
The Moselle River (also called the Moselle Brook) flows into Pymmes Brook. It's the latter which enters the Navigation Channel of the River Lee near Ferry Lane. (The point isn't simply about the names of streams. Pymmes Brook is also collecting crap from further north.)
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