Feargal Sharkey vows to donate £1k to charity if Thames Water boss agrees to drink glass of water from River Brent
13 December 2024, 07:38
Feargal Sharkey has issued a fresh challenge to Britain’s biggest water company as part of the latest edition of Feargal on Friday on LBC.
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The environmental campaigner pledged to donate £1,000 to charity if the boss of Thames Water agrees to drink a glass of water from the River Brent in West London.
He called on the firm to “live up to your own words” in response to the claim by many water companies that say the rivers they are responsible for are 95 per cent rainwater.
It comes as testing conducted on the River by LBC, alongside the volunteer group ‘Clean Up the River Brent’, reveals a number of environmental red flags following years of sewage pollution by Thames Water.
Last month, it was reported that misconnected pipes were causing raw sewage to be dumped into the River Brent from at least 100 homes.
The impact of these misconnections can now be revealed following an extensive investigation by LBC into the river’s water quality.
The nitrate test - a key indicator of pollution in a river - generated a reading of 15 parts per million.
That is three times above the threshold of what is deemed ‘excessive’ by the Water Quality Monitoring Network.
Meanwhile, phosphate levels in the Brent came in at 0.95 parts per million - three times over the upper limit defined by the Water Framework Directive
High levels of phosphates in rivers can be toxic for humans and lethal for animals.
It can cause a significant number of fish deaths because of how it reduces the available oxygen in the ecosystem.
Feargal visits the River Brent
Testing carried out by Simplex Health on behalf of LBC showed the presence of E Coli in the River Brent was over 10 times the level at which the Environment Agency (EA) considers a river to be “poor quality bathing water”.
This reading came in at 9100 colony forming units per 100ml - one of the highest recorded since the start of Feargal on Friday.
E Coli can cause diarrhoea, severe stomach cramps, vomiting and can be deadly in extreme cases.
“We can’t go on polluting our rivers in this way", Ben Morris, founder of Clean Up the River Brent, told LBC following the results.
“We've got to sort out the infrastructure, we need better regulation, we need more people on the ground, we need people to care more and we need to get the investment that's required really to sort out the broken pipes
“We've got all kinds of different routes that's bringing sewage into the River," he told LBC.
Thames Water, the company responsible for sewage discharge into the River Brent, saw a 40% increase in pollution incidents in the six months to September 30.
The firm is saddled with debts which stood at just under £16bn at the end of September.
Chris Weston, the boss of Thames Water who was hired in January, was awarded a bonus of £195,000 for his first three months at the company.
In response to LBC’s investigation, a Thames Water spokesperson said: "The health of rivers is affected by many factors and everyone has a critical role to play.
"We have identified seven buildings in the Brent and Crane area which are misconnected, and have made those responsible aware to ensure all wastewater is taken to our sewage works where it can be safely treated.
"Households and buildings which are connected to the wrong drainage pipe can have a serious impact on the environment.
"Most misconnections will have been done entirely by accident but it is the responsibility of the property owner, which is why we would urge freeholders or developers fitting new connections to make sure they’re plumbed in properly.
"We know how much people enjoy and appreciate rivers, and we are committed to seeing waterways thrive, but we can’t do it alone.
"Farming, industry, road runoff, wildlife and increasingly extreme weather also play a role in river health.
"While all storm discharges are unacceptable, the sewage system was historically designed to work in this way, to prevent sewage backing up into people’s homes.
"As our infrastructure ages, and our population grows, more investment will be required.
"The Thames Tideway Tunnel, a £4.5 billion investment, is nearing completion.
"This project, combined with previous upgrades we’ve made to our London sewage works and the building of the Lee Tunnel, will capture 95% of the volume of untreated sewage currently entering the tidal Thames in a typical year.
"Thames Water has a clear and achievable plan to upgrade 250 of our facilities across the region to ensure we play our part.”
