Stop chemicals polluting Thames, petition demands

A plan to swap 75 million litres a day of the River Thames with wastewater has sparked a petition demanding "forever chemicals" be stopped from polluting the waterway.

Thames Water's plan to ensure London has enough drinking water during dry weather would see water taken from the Thames above Teddington Weir, in south-west London.

It would join Lee Valley reservoirs to become drinking water and be replaced by "highly treated" wastewater from a new plant at Mogden Sewage Treatment Works.

Campaigners claim it is the wrong solution as it could harm people and the environment, but Thames Water believes it would protect the environment and river levels.

Save Our Lands And River (Solar) said current proposals do not do enough to filter out micropollutants - which can include pesticides and stimulants.

It wants the new treatment plant to meet stricter standards, as demanded by EU countries, to remove them.

Solar's petition, on the government's website, wants new wastewater treatment works to meet the higher international standards to "safeguard people's health, better protect all water bodies and reduce damaging long-term impacts".

The EU's new urban wastewater treatment directive requires treatment plants serving 150,000 or more people to introduce an extra stage of treatment by 2045 targeting residual micropollutants.

Solar launched its petition to the government after a previous petition attracted more than 33,800 signatures.

Petitions on the government's website require a response if they get 10,000 signatures.

The government must consider holding a debate in Parliament if the petition gets 100,000 signatures by 1 November.

The petition said schemes built to outdated standards should be stopped as they could release contaminants, including forever chemicals, and risk higher bills to pay for avoidable upgrades.

Solar's Ian McNuff told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "They're proposing something which is not good enough."

Thames Water said the scheme, still being designed, would meet UK standards.

"Water recycling is a tried and tested method used across the world," it said.

"We'd like to reassure local communities that the project would meet water quality standards set by the Environment Agency and will comply with all relevant regulatory and legal requirements, which are set by UK government."

Thames Water intends to apply to the government for a development consent order for the project in early 2027.

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