Sewage Petition Goes Online |
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Asking PM to halt discharge of raw sewage into Thames
Residents and river users are being urged to sign an online petition asking the Prime Minister to make improvement works to the Mogden sewage treatment plant a high priority to stop discharge of raw sewage into the tidal stretch of the River Thames. Submitted by Darren Rhodes with a deadline to sign up by 31 January 2010, the petition already has more than 400 signatures. Discharge of raw sewage into the Thames from the Mogden plant is a regular occurrence. The Environment Agency states: “Discharges from Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) are a regular occurrence and can happen following as little as 2mm of rain.” In response to the rain in July 2009, Thames Water emptied concentrated untreated sewage at Mogden into the river in order to protect the plant after the rain. Thames Water has pointed out that the dumping of almost a million tonnes of raw sewage into the Thames at Isleworth was "not an accident" and they have consent from the Environment Agency to discharge into the river at any time - the Thames Tideway is classified as open water and falls under the same laws as discharging waste into the English Channel. "It is senseless that a strip of river which is almost static in the summer can be classified as such." said Mr Rhodes.
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