Every year an average of 39 million tonnes of untreated sewage is dumped into the tidal Thames, killing much of what lives in the river. These sewage overflows are legally consented and are getting worse.
Thames Water send a warning email to rowers when their main pumping stations are discharging to the river, we record these at sdn.rivertac.org. We also send out notifications on Twitter – follow @ThamesSewage to receive these.
Listed on this page are the notified discharge amounts since June 2011 into the Western Tideway. These are only four out of the 57 Combined sewage Overflows and pumping stations that discharge into the Thames after as little as 2mm of rain.
Lots Road Pumping Station
The Thames Tunnel or Super Sewer, is the single best solution to clean up the Tideway. The plan has been agreed and approved, construction is due to start in 2016. But these sewage discharges will continue for many years and we fully expect major fish kills and environmental damage as the current system becomes more overloaded.
Dead Bream after a sewage overflow
The figures below are cubic metres (m3) or Tonnes of sewage since June 2011 and are only the monitored discharges into the Western Tideway, therefore the actual total is very many times higher
2011 | Hammersmith PS | Mogden STW | Western PS | Lots Road PS |
June | 504,750 | 516,000 | 484,200 | 242,300 |
July | 224,400 | 107,000 | 407,225 | 156,440 |
August | 572,600 | 691,000 | 428,750 | 241,700 |
September | 222,500 | 31,000 | 102,600 | 55,700 |
October | 48,400 | |||
November | 207,000 | 166,000 | 411,600 | 168,360 |
December | 75,000 | 355,000 | 337,150 | 66,960 |
2012 | Hammersmith PS | Mogden STW | Western PS | Lots Road PS |
January | 196,400 | 249,000 | 346,280 | 148,410 |
February | 6,000 | 133,000 | 28,575 | |
March | 50,000 | 123,000 | 46,125 | 16,740 |
April | 612,000 | 399,109 | 862,750 | 293,400 |
May | 176,600 | 680,000 | 162,600 | 27,000 |
June | 654,600 | 1,761,000 | 977,349 | 322,560 |
July | 211,400 | 419,400 | 276,600 | 99,900 |
August | 367,200 | 327,000 | 304,275 | 141,200 |
September | 227,100 | 457,000 | 315,825 | 95,940 |
October | 229,640 | 648,000 | 564,150 | 134,460 |
November | 647,600 | 1,038,100 | 350,250 | 243,900 |
December | 819,600 | 1,667,800 | 784,250 | 334,980 |
2013 | Hammersmith PS | Mogden STW | Western PS | Lots Road PS |
January | 328,600 | 1,495,700 | 147,225 | |
February | 762,600 | 1,865,500 | 128,175 | 46,980 |
March | 461,400 | 1,079,08 | 307,200 | 90,720 |
April | 41,100 | 50,000 | 393,252 | 58,500 |
May | 553,200 | 81,000 | 153,150 | 79,180 |
June | 0 | 0 | 59,400 | 20,250 |
July | 38,600 | 0 | 206,100 | 37,980 |
August | 649,800 | 32,750 | 784,100 | 130,680 |
September | 743,100 | 25,400 | 301,725 | 247,780 |
October | 1,391,100 | 175,400 | 667,800 | 298,080 |
November | 1,301,000 | 254,300 | 454,350 | 144,900 |
December | 1,271,363 | 223,500 | 560,475 | 135,000 |
2014 | Hammersmith PS | Mogden STW | Western PS | Lots Road PS |
January | 1,637,456 | 2,505,000 | 678,750 | 250,830 |
February | 433,000 | 3,956,300 | 470,550 | 196,740 |
March | 34,000 | 52,400 | 81,600 | 61,500 |
April | 87,400 | 29,000 | 156,750 | 94,500 |
May | 203,080 | 7000 | 382,350 | 185,220 |
June | 532,800 | 0 | 176,850 | 49,500 |
July | 24,400 | 0 | 176,850 | 27,000 |
August | 859,400 | 264,000 | 739,050 | 257,040 |
September | 84,000 | 0 | 86,700 | 62,460 |
October | 323,600 | 234,000 | 221,925 | 76,500 |
November | 678,400 | 1,068,000 | 824,025 | 381,060 |
December | 37,800 | 45,000 | 148,350 | 18,000 |
2015 | Hammersmith PS | Mogden STW | Western PS | Lots Road PS |
January | 286,400 | 309,000 | 389,325 | 93,960 |
February | 600 | 26,000 | 95,700 | 13,500 |
March | 1800 | 0 | 118,800 | 9,000 |
April | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
May | 52 | 0 | 188,073 | 27,032 |
June | 0 | 0 | 110,850 | 13,500 |
July | 387,000 | 94,000 | 425,850 | 246,420 |
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December |