Mass Wildlife Death After Sewage Pours Into Twickenham River

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Monday October 31st 2011

Thousands have fish have died after raw sewage was drained into River Crane in Feltham - in the same park which recieved a £400,000 makeover from the Mayor last year.

Crane Park was awarded the money as part of Boris's Help a London Park competition in 2009 with the aim of improving the green space, making it more accessible and encouraging the local community to spend time there.

Part of the plans included improving habitats for the local wildlife, which has been badly hit by the major sewage leak which began over the weekend.

A fault with a Thames Water valve, which happened while engineers carried out routine maintenance, meant the waste had to be drained away from Heathrow Airport, instead being directed into the River Crane.

The Environment Agency is now working to stop it causing any more damage to wildlife in the river while Thames Water uses specialist equipment to try and stop the leak.

A spokesperson for Thames Water said:

"While we are taking a lot of backed-up sewage away in tanker lorries for treatment, such is the volume of sewage we are not able to tanker all of it.

"Faced with the unpalatable choice of letting the remaining sewage back up into the airport or spill to the River Crane, we have been forced to opt for the latter, resulting in sewage entering the river and damaging wildlife, which we deeply regret.

"We are working with all those affected by this problem and with the Environment Agency, who are aware of our plan to tackle this problem as soon as possible."

Environmental campaigners are calling for an full explaination from Thames Wateras to why they allowed the waste to flow into the river.

It comes as a report by the Thames Tunnel Commission says the River Thames can be made cleaner, fulfilling all its EU directives on water quality without a "super sewer".

It is a blow for Thames Water which says the tunnel is the best solution to cleaning up the river.

The building would add an estimated £6-£12 per month to water bills of 14 million customers.