UK faces Euro-court action over Thames 'open sewer'

2.43.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 8th Oct 2009

Sarah Ludford MEP (left) and Dee Doocey, London Assembly Member (right) examine water from the Thames

The European Commission has announced today that it is taking the United Kingdom to the EU court, the European Court of Justice, for failing to implement a 1991 European clean water law requiring treatment of sewage before discharge. Treatment facilities had to be in place in large cities by 2000 and the raw sewage still going into the Thames in London is one of the cited breaches.

An overflow into the Thames of raw sewage occurs on average once a week, during even moderate rainfall. In 2009 between January and August the equivalent of 4000 Olympic swimming pools of mixed rainwater and untreated sewage were pumped into the river and since it is an estuary rather than fast-flowing, the waste can take up to 80 days to disperse. Sewage causes bacteria, viruses and high levels of nitrogen and phosphates to be present in the river.

Liberal Democrat MEP for London Sarah Ludford, who in 2005 took a petition to the European Parliament on the matter and has long campaigned for EU pressure for a clean-up said:

"It is scandalous that Thames pollution from sewage is continuing for so long that the Commission is obliged to take legal action. The Thames should not be used as an open sewer, with an unacceptable threat to our health and the environment."

"Due to years of under-investment in the capital's infrastructure, Londoners have to put up with the stink that so often comes off our river. Olympic rowers in 2012 will have to do the same, so this is also a national disgrace."

ENDS

Note for editors

The EU 'urban waste water' Directive requires treatment of sewage before discharge in order to have clean rivers, seas and lakes. Although the planned Thames 'super-sewer' will almost certainly solve the problem by collecting sewage before it overflows and channelling it to a treatment plant, this 22 mile tunnel along the north side of the river will only be operational in 2020, almost 3 decades after the European law that the UK signed up to came into force. Until then the European Commission considers amount of overflow into the Thames unacceptable such that the UK is in breach of the Directive.

Related Links:

Read the European Commission press release on the subject.

Read more about Sarah's work on Thames sewage pollution.