EU action on filthy Thames sewage welcome

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 4th Apr 2006

London's Liberal Democrat MEP Baroness Sarah Ludford has welcomed the decision by the European Commission to threaten the UK with legal action in the European Court of Justice over the raw sewage outflows into the Thames. She said:

"Brussels is Londoners' friend. Londoners will be grateful that Europe is set to end the disgraceful 19th century system whereby 40 million tonnes of raw sewage are allowed to flow into the Thames every year."

"It is a sad indictment of a Labour government and a Labour Mayor that the EU has to wield the big stick to get us adequate sewage treatment in the 21st Century."

Notes to Editors:

The UK government has had 15 years to comply with an EU Directive which requires the installation of adequate collection and treatment facilities for 'urban waste water'. At present there is on average an overflow of raw sewage every week from one of 36 outflow pipes; this happens in even moderate rainfall when the capacity of the sewers (which capture rain as well as sewage) is exceeded.

In August 2004 there was a particularly large overflow and thousands of dead fish littered the Thames. The sewage is harmful to health of river users like canoeists, and the debris is of course smelly and unsightly. This affects the River Lea too, and threatened to impact on the 2012 Olympics.

A 'Thames Tideway Strategic Study´ bringing together Defra, the GLA, OFWAT and the Environment Agency reported a year ago that the only real solution was a 22 mile interceptor tunnel to catch the flow and take it out for treatment at Crossness sewage treatment works. The government has been stalling on implementing this advice, because of the almost £2 billion price tag.