Lib Dems welcome Thames Water super-sewer consultation (Hammersmith and Fulham Liberal Democrats)

Hammersmith and Fulham Liberal Democrats <info@hflibdems.org.uk>

Lib Dems welcome Thames Water super-sewer consultation

September 10, 2010 9:40 PM

Ahead of the launch of Thames Water's public consultation on the route and construction options for the Thames 'super-sewer', Sarah Ludford, the Liberal Democrat MEP for London has voiced her continuing support for the 20-mile interceptor tunnel. Sarah has led the campaign for many years to clean up the Thames. She said:

"The Thames super-sewer is essential to stop our outdated Victorian reliance on sewage overflows when a bit of rain falls. To use this method in the 21st century is disgusting, and it is outrageous that the Thames is still in 2010 treated as an open sewer. Londoners, and Olympic athletes, deserve better."

In 2005 Baroness Ludford had presented a petition to the European Parliament condemning the raw sewage overflows that pollute the river and specifically calling for a Thames super-sewer to stop breaches of the EU clean water laws that the UK had signed up to.

Yet figures obtained by Liberal Democrat London Assembly environment spokesperson Mike Tuffrey reveal that in the month of August 2010 alone, 6.5 million cubic metres of diluted sewage was discharged (legally) into the Thames. The super-sewer will capture it before it enters the river and divert it to treatment.

"The prospect of the tunnel is thanks to EU laws and action. Whitehall and the Mayor of London have for the last 10 years been in breach of European sewage treatment rules, and the UK is currently on trial in the European Court of Justice for failing to take action earlier to clean up the Thames."

"After decades of foot-dragging by previous governments, I welcome the new coalition government's backing for the super-sewer. The detail of the route, and minimising disruption for residents, are very important. But this is our chance to clean up the Thames for good and we must not blow it."

H&F Liberal Democrats also welcomed the consultation. H&F Council is urged to abandon its stubborn obstructionism and engage constructively with Thames Water to find solutions to the real rather than the imagined disruption to H&F residents.