Thames in Hot Water

Tom Brake MP and I met a high level team from Thames Water last week to ask them some tough questions about the damage that sewage and storm water did in parts of the borough over the summer. We also used the meeting to find out how they will avoid the kind of catastrophic accident that killed hundreds of fish recently and damaged the River Wandle for years.

The Thames' team included their External Relations Manager Richard Aylard and the Principal Project Manager Steve Thomas.

At the end of the meeting Tom and I took the Thames’ team on a tour of the worst affected sites, including Nightingale Close and Buckhurst Avenue. We were surprised to learn that Nightingale Close was not on Thames' list of places prone to flooding. Thanks to our meeting this has changed adn residents will be leafleted by Thames to establish the extent of the problem and how often it has occurred in recent years.

There was better news for Buckhurst Avenue, where Thames expect to start building a new pumping station in May 2008 with work due to complete in April 2008. Whilst this is good news, we will need to keep them to their word.

I'm also pleased that Thames have accepted responsibility for the disastrous poisoning of the river Wandle and agreed to provide new planting along the river edge to create a habitat for insects and animals as well as restocking the river with fish. It will take a long time for the river to recover and Thames must ensure that such a disaster cannot happen again. They also face a potential fine from the Environment Agency.

Thames have also said that they want to improve the sewers serving Nightingale Road, and plan to lay new pipes and build an underground storage tank to increase the capacity of the system. According to Steve Thomas, Thames’ Principal Project Manager, this work should start early next year.