Sewage discharges Levels since June 2011

Where are the Western Tideway CSO's

Spilt into 2 parts





Full doc is here

http://files.thamestunnelconsultation.co.uk/files/thamestunnel/3-Sites_and_Tunnels_West.pdf

Bump on this thread, what we are facing

On Friday I learned that the Hammersmith pumping station CSO is SO big, (capacity: 24 tonnes per second) that it does not enter the river via a big flap like the others because that would cause too much bank erosion. Instead it is pumped up via a big outlet in the middle of the river. More on that visit later...

Look forward to the report Ed

I will give you a call

Have been reading a report by the Health Protection Agency produced in 2007 as to what is in the Tidal Thames. Does not make pleasant reading..

Results

The data collected to date remain the largest most accurate representation of
microbiological water quality data for the upper Thames tideway, and has shown:

• evidence that background concentrations of microbiological indicator organisms
exceed the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended levels for recreational
use at Kew, Barnes and Putney

• that water quality improves as you move downstream from Kew to Barnes and
Putney.

• using the WHO guidelines, less than 1% of days when samples were taken from the
Thames’ tideway were acceptable by the WHO guideline standard. (“no observable
adverse effect limit (NOAEL) i.e. of ≤ 40 colony forming units (cfu) /100 ml
enterococci for human health.

• ninety-one percent of sampling occasions resulted in Escherichia coli (E.coli)counts >
1000 cfu/100ml level, and would be viewed as “poor water quality” in terms of EC
Bathing Water quality.(E. coli is an indicator of faecal contamination of human and /or
animal origin).

• evidence of an elevated risk to the health of recreational users of the upper tideway
for 2 - 4 days after CSO discharge events.

• evidence of frequent contamination with potential human pathogens including
Campylobacter spp, Salmonella spp and Enteroviruses present in samples from at
least one of the three sampling locations on 99% of sampling occasions, (Kew 90%,
Barnes 90%, Putney 86%) and at all three locations on 65% of sampling occasions

• evidence to suggest that plugs of discharged waste-water moving with the ebb and
flood of the tide remain relatively concentrated for up to 4 days.

• samples collected up to 5 days after CSO discharge may still reflect raised levels of
indicator

Here is the full report

http://www.hpa.org.uk/webc/HPAwebFile/HPAweb_C/1194947405865

Beggars belief...


Richard

Dave great post about the water quality analysis.

As someone who will fish Putney and Chelsea in the season, interesting that the water quality gets better moving downstream.

More from the HPA report in 2007, seems little was ever implemented, where are the health warnings, shouldnt there be signs up on the river warning people? London's dirty secret...

The provision of the following simple advice is suggested:

• Users of the river are advised to ensure that they wash their hands and faces before
consuming food and drink.

• To shower after total body immersion

• To avoid food and water consumption whilst on the water unless adequate protective
measures have been taken to reduce the likelihood of cross contamination of the water /
food container from river water.

• Avoid contact with sands silts and gravels without adequate protective wear such as
boots and gloves. This will also reduce the likelihood of receiving cuts from glass or
metal fragments in the gravel.

• Contact with tideway waters during and after stormy wet weather conditions represents
a significant health risk to all users of the tideway. Users should try to avoid direct
contact with the tideway waters for at least 3 days after stormy weather (preferably 4
days), to allow the tideway to self clean through the tidal ebb and flow.

• Hazards on the tideway are not only of microbiological, but may also be of chemical
origin. Storm water flows also increase the real likelihood of submerged debris causing
hazards, from pleasure craft damage to causing obstructions to rowers resulting in
accidental immersion.

• Cover or treat blisters, cuts, grazes and insect bites appropriately whilst on the river, and
wash with a suitable antiseptic after leaving the water.

• Wash all equipment with detergent after leaving the water.

Olympic Bid and Public access to the Foreshore

Previous studies have highlighted the effects that local water microbiology may have on
visitors to water based recreational resources, such that continual exposure to faecally
polluted waters may improve immune capacity in the short term.

In light of the successful Olympic bid (London 2012) and the potential for non-local participants making use of the upper tideway for both recreational and training purposes the subsequent potential risk to human health remains.

In addition, non-water based recreational use of tideway foreshore represents an even
greater potential risk since attendees of these events are less likely to have frequent
exposure to the relatively high concentrations of both indicator organisms and pathogens
deposited in silt, sand and gravel on the foreshore. Previous studies of bathing beach sand
quality have indicated raised levels and persistence of pathogens and indicator organisms
present above the tide line on bathing beaches.

Events such as the Mayor of London’s Festival, archaeological society visits and the promotion of the tideway foreshore, all
increase the potential for ingestion of contaminated water or cross contaminated foods, and
thus the likelihood of illness unless appropriate hygiene precautions are adopted.

Its a sad situation to be in, when you cant take a couple of ham rolls fishing with you without fear of getting a dose of the monty,s or worse

And more

Provision of advice to users of the Thames tideway

The Health Protection Agency support The City of London as the local Authority for the
tideway, in protecting the public health of users of the tideway, by issuing advice which is
timely and related to the actual risks to users, particularly the more vulnerable groups such
as children, the elderly and immuno-suppressed. Clearly some groups are more likely to
become immersed in the tidal waters through both design and accident (canoeists and
windsurfers), than others such as experienced rowers or commercial pleasure craft handlers.
Each group of activities will carry its own level of risk, based on a combination of the
likelihood of ingestion of water, age, health status and frequency of exposure to the waters.
Clear advice is required with regards to accessing the tideway and the tideway foreshore,
both normally, and after excessive rainfall events. A simple “traffic light” system could be
used.

I,m not to sure how to go about this, but it would be interesting to find out if the EA have blueprints of all the discharge (outlet) points along the river from Hammersmith to Putney, sewage or otherwise.

Update on this below:


26th Sept:
Western PS,
32,400 m3
Hammersmith PS
36,300 m3

27th Oct
Hammersmith PS
48,800m3

3rd Nov:
Hammersmith PS
330,000 m3
Lots Road PS
83,420 m3
Western PS
212,700m3

4th Nov
Mogden
166,000 m3
Hammersmith PS
96,000 m3

8th Nov
Hammersmith PS
18,000 m3


And these figures are just for the Western end of the Tideway


In December:

1st - Western 98,850
Lots Rd 9,000

11th Western 51,600
Lots Rd 19,980

12th Western 84,000
Lots Rd 28,850
Hammersmith 60,000

13th Mogden 211,000

15th Western 50,550

16th Mogden 62,000
Hammersmith 15,000
Lots Rd 9,000

17th Mogden 11,000

18th Mogden 1,000

Updated list on the website, and its a drought.

http://rivertac.org/thames-sewage-events/

Still missing from the list: Hammersmith June 6th 2011,
Do you think their too embarrassed to stick them up.

Yes I know mate. I have been back over all the data we have got, and it took countless emails to get all the info after we started asking.

Never had a figure on the first one but cant imagine it didnt pump out. Difference is though that we did get the Hammersmith notification started, but wasn't until July so after.

Funny though if you read how much they say is pumped, then look at the Hammersmith total, and we are in a drought...



11/07/2011 - Changes to your notifications from Thames Water

We have had good feedback on our email notification system about discharges to the River Thames from Mogden STW. This system has been running for some time and is clearly helpful to river users, so I wanted to let you know that we now intend to extend it to include discharges from Hammersmith Sewage Pumping Station (SPS).

Hammersmith SPS discharges around two million cubic metres of storm water to the river in a typical year, on 50-60 occasions, from a submerged outlet just downstream of Hammersmith bridge.

These discharges are carried both upstream and down by the tide -for details see the animation at www.thamestunnelconsultation.co.uk.

From the London Transport museum:

Final 2012 discharge figures for the monitored pumping stations:

Hammersmith PS - 4,203,140 cubic metres

Mogden - 8,574,409 cubic metres

Western PS 5,019,409 cubic metres

Lots Road PS - 1,858,410 cubic metres

Total for these alone - 19,655,008

Or in total 19,655,008,000 litres of sewage, and that's a lot of cr&p!