Misconnected Sewers Blamed for Strand on the Green Pollution
Thames Water says one in ten properties could be affected
Sewage flowing into the river by Ship Alley. Picture: Anita Milewczyk
April 6, 2025
Hopes that the massive investment in the Thames super sewer would deliver clean water in the river in Chiswick appear to have been misplaced.
Thames Water has confirmed that sewage is continuing to flow into the river by Strand on the Green despite the Thames Tideway tunnel being fully connected.
Residents have been observing foul water emanating from the culvert emerging from the river wall on Strand on the Green next to Ship Alley for some time.
Thames is required to carry out storm discharge monitoring by the Environment Agency and report the duration of any flow of untreated into the Thames. Foul water generally emits from outflows by the river when there is heavy rain and the capacity of the sewers can't cope. There has been no reported outflows of this kind since last October and now the super sewer is expected to stop them in all most all cases.
However, there is no monitoring of the outflow at the Strand on the Green site because the pipes leading into are not connected to the system to carry foul water to the sewage treatment works.
Thames Water says it believes that the sewage people are observing coming from this point is due to misconnected sewers from property developments in the area. Either knowingly or unknowingly, waste pipes have been linked to the wrong system. The problem appears to be more widespread than was previous acknowledged with Thames suggesting as much as one in ten properties could be affected.
The issue first came to light last November when environmental campaign groups working to protect the River Brent and the River Crane used a Freedom on Information request to confirm that seven developments of varying sizes had misconnected sewers. A later investigation by the investigative web site identified the specific properties where the problem was occurring and discovered that, in cases where the developer could not be traced or forced to pay, flat owners were being asked to cover the cost of making good the sewerage in the building. In some cases Ealing Council has issued notices to property owners warning them of potential criminal proceedings if they fail to repair the connections.
Ben Morris of the Brent River Park charity, which was instrumental in first highlighting this issue, believes that the problem has been made worse by a lack of co-ordination between the various agencies. There appears to be no reliable system to identify a potential misconnected sewer in the planning and building inspection process and no clear line of responsibility for investigating and taking action when issues become apparent.
Mr Morris, who is also the founder of the Clean Up the River Brent campaign (CURB), said, “The Mayor of London has quite rightly called for the restoration of our rivers. For this to happen, builders, building inspectors, water companies, local councils and the Environment Agency will all have to step up and take responsibility.
“At present it is too easy to build recklessly and to refuse to put things right. This must change, or London’s rivers will never be healthy.
“The whole situation is beautifully constructed for buck passing.
“Most property buyers assume that these connections have already been inspected. It therefore comes as a surprise to them to be presented with a bill for fixing their ‘misconnected’ sewer long after the developer has left the scene.
“While the local councils, the Environment Agency and Thames Water point fingers at each other, the rivers are filling up with sewage and householders are left to pick up the bill. Tougher and clearer laws are needed. “
A Thames Water spokesperson said “We are investigating reports of sewer discharge into the river Thames via the culvert on the embankment near Ship Alley. We recently carried out a repair on our foul water sewer; however, our investigations suggest there are also misconnected pipes in the area causing wastewater to be released through the surface water pipe.
“It is estimated one in ten properties in the Thames Water region is misconnected which can have a serious impact on the environment. We have a programme of work to help identify and investigate misconnections and we also fund local projects across our region, which have been a great way to increase awareness of the issue, while involving communities to take stewardship and help manage their local environments.”
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