Wildlife Circus

  Thames Water have done it again. There has been a significant sewage spill covering a very large area of ground. The fence warns us 'danger electricity', but not of the sewage that has recently spewed all over the recreation ground-from the surcharged tunnel of cess -all the way from Worcester Park. This is in fact, a repeat performance of the public health and natural disaster of February, 2016.     A sog  of raw stinking sewage meanders through scrub creating grey rivulets in many places, especially  towards lower ground  leading to the river. Further along a secondary footpath to the woods, raw sewage remains pooled and ecoliferous. Thames Water have set up a Heras fence cordon and attempted to clean up the site, albeit very poorly, with rag still littered around the public park. This is clearly a large scale pollution event, affecting land right up to the river. Thames Water have a duty of care to warn the public of the danger;  pa...

As a recap, there was a large spill of sewage onto Green Lane Recreation Ground and the Hogsmill river 8.2.16, when 2,500 bags of waste were removed (posted 21.2.16). Since then it has continued to be bad news for the Hogsmill river, with sewage entering the river every month (see: sewage spill into the Hogsmill River 19.4.16; spates and sewage 23.6.16). Much of this has been via the 'channel of cess' on the north-east bank near California Road as well as other surcharging manholes. But a large release of sewage occured last Thursday, in the early hours of the morning from the final settlement tanks. Something of a puzzle is that an amount of rag was also noted, which should not be associated with the final stage of sewage treatment.  As usual this has largly gone  uncommented upon. This silence is not commensurate with the large amount of sewage that has entered the water course.  On the tiday Thames there are regular announcements for rowers when there is a spi...

 Well the boards are down and clearance is underway on two parcels of land sold by Thames Water just before Christmas. The largest  0.44 acre plot was sold for 1.2 million with the smaller plot fetching a mere £750,000. This is before any development consent. How easy will it be to build, given that the northern third has a covenant to prevent anything being planted on top of the sewerage pipes? The site has been woodland for many years and it is hardly surprising that woodland species, particularly badgers have drifted in from nearby areas. Woodland attenuates the flow of water, more important than ever now that the Environment Agency has updated the flood map to include Lower Marsh Lane in a zone of increased risk of flooding. Why has public land been used to store water as in the Browns Road Flood alleviation scheme (which ruined the ecology of Surbiton Fishponds) and high risk Thames Water land sold off. Development of this site could put many more of us in deep water....

 Another opportunity to view a Thames Water site, which will be managed for wildlife, occurred this weekend in Hackney. This was at the open day at 'Woodberry Wetlands' or East reservoir and our guide was David from the London Wildlife Trust. His opening statement was that 'we want to change peoples attitudes',  we need to engage local people quickly to make sure that they realise, that this is a nature reserve and they cannot bring their gazebos, barbeques and sound systems here'. Nor is it possible to bring dogs. This is an opportunity for local people to have a rare glimpse of a Thames Water operational site in the east end of London. Thames Water are about to hand to the London Wildlife Trust, the annual contract for managing the site and for the first time the reedbeds and grasslands will be cut on a regime that will have maximum wildlife benefit, while complying with the requirements for Reservoir Engineer inspections etc. Health and Safety issues ...