'A soup of toxic waste': E.coli levels in Thames '30x higher than usual' after sewage discharges during heatwave
A level of 58,000 E. coli per 100ml of river water was found following heavy rainfall earlier this week
E. coli levels in the Thames reached near record-breaking levels this week after raw sewage discharges turned the warm river water into "a soup of toxic waste", LBC has been told.
Listen to this article
Testing carried out by Fulham Reach Boat Club in Hammersmith with River Action on Wednesday morning, following heavy rainfall the night before, recorded 58,000 E. coli per 100ml of river water.
Thames Water has confirmed to LBC that a "spill event" occurred "during planned maintenance works". DEFRA classifies more than 1,000 E.coli per 100ml as poor bathing water quality.
James Wallace, CEO of campaign group River Action, said: "[The results show] 58 times the safe limit for swimming in the River Thames.
"It means the health of anyone going in the river is massively at risk.
Read more: Troubled South East Water names incoming chief executive
"If you were to drink that water, it to get into your mouth, it could make you very seriously ill. If it could go into an open wound, for example, if you're a rower, it could actually cause sepsis and even kill you."
The sample was taken following heavy rainfall in the capital on Tuesday night.
The London Tideway Tunnel, opened last year and often referred to as the "super sewer", is supposed to prevent untreated sewage from overflowing into the river during heavy rainfall.
But the £4.6bn facility was closed for planned maintenance this week, and Thames Water stated that "an isolated spill occurred at Fulham Reach during planned maintenance works."
Water Action, in partnership with the Fulham Reach Boat Club, has collected 74 samples from the site since September 2024.
They say the average E. coli concentration has been 1574.5 E. coli per 100ml of water, making this week's result more than thirty times the site's average.
The samples are independently verified by Fluidion "using its WHO-approved ALERT System, which was deployed during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games."
According to Wallace, the combination of this week's heavy rainfall and the Tideway Tunnel being closed for maintenance, means that the raw sewage being discharged into the Thames would have been in "the same, or worse" state than when it left people's homes or businesses:
He said: "Worse because it's been in the system for hours or days, and therefore the bugs have grown and multiplied.
"And then when it comes out into what is very warm water now, we're often seeing about 24-25 degree temperature of water, which is really high and when those bugs, when that E. coli and other nasties go into the river that, that is like a little incubator."
"So you'll see all those bugs coming out of the sewage treatment work untreated, going into a warm body of water flowing slowly-ish and actively turning into a soup of toxic waste that could put our health at risk."
River Action is advocating for the Government to place Thames Water into a Special Administration Regime and "take this essential utility out of private hands.”
"If Andy Burnham makes it into Number 10, then we hope that he will follow through on the noises he's been making in the media recently about taking it back into public control," said Wallace.
"I'm not sure he's gone as far as saying he wants to fully renationalise the whole industry, although he's hinting at that."
A Thames Water spokesperson said: "We can confirm that an isolated spill occurred at Fulham Reach during planned maintenance works, as part of the Tideway Tunnel testing and commissioning programme. The work required the temporary isolation of key assets to ensure their long-term reliability and performance.
"The maintenance was scheduled during a period of dry weather to minimise operational risk. However, an exceptional and highly localised storm occurred unexpectedly during this time, which resulted in the spill.
"While this incident coincided with essential maintenance activity, the Tideway Tunnel system played a key role in protecting the river by capturing and transferring significant volumes of wastewater for treatment.
"We are undertaking a detailed review of the circumstances, and any lessons learned will be applied to strengthen future maintenance planning and operational resilience, supporting the continued protection of the River Thames."