Solving sewer overflows
We continue to press Thames Water on its plans to spend £1.8bn to reduce sewer overflows across London. Through sending information requests we discovered that the list of sites wasn’t as robust as we might hope. A sewer overflow was listed for improvement that had actually been sealed 20 years ago. One of London’s worst spillers wasn’t scheduled for an upgrade before 2030 because the company thought it could be a duplicate. It has now established that there are two overflows that discharge into the river in Mayesbrook Park. This is why it is important that people question Thames Water’s plans – we need them to demonstrate that they will be cost-effective and the places that need investment most, receive it. We need to keep pushing them to use green infrastructure to stop rain getting into sewers in the first place. We are also talking to Thames Water directly, to help them embrace green infrastructure.
Send our information request and make Thames Water do its homework..

Kingston Rivers Cultures Festival, 6th September 2025
This Saturday London Waterkeeper and the Legal Clinic from King’s College London will be asking if the River Thames should have the right to sue in Kingston County Court.
Corporations have ‘personhood’ and can take legal action. If rivers had rights (and more widely nature) would they be as polluted as they are now? The aim of the event is to use art and law to introduce the concept of the Rights of Nature to the local community.
London Waterkeeper will also be offering advice on how to use advocacy to protect your local river. People will be able to take action and challenge Thames Water on its plan to take water from the Thames at Teddington and replace it with treated effluent from Mogden Sewage Works. London Waterkeeper has 3 questions that people can send to the company.
The Rights of Nature Clinic will be at Canbury Gardens from midday to 5pm, with the overall event finishing at 8.30pm.
Press release.

Swimmable Cities
London Waterkeeper is a signatory to the Swimmable Cities alliance and was at its first River Summit in Rotterdam this June. Founded in 2023, it built on the momentum from started by athletes swimming in the River Seine at the Paris Olympics. Our CEO spoke at the Water Matters conference this summer too, as did one of the Olympic swimmers, Toby Robinson. He has organised The Thames Swim Against Sewage with Surfers Against Sewage. On Monday, 8 world class swimmers started at Lechlade and will reach central London on Thursday.
London Waterkeeper also joined the Friends of the Thames network earlier this year and sits on its Advisory Board. FoTT connects groups and River Guardians across the Thames basin. It is campaigning against pollution to the Thames and its tributaries, and how we can reduce our impact on rivers at home. It’s CEO, Laura Reineke, is swimming the Catalina Channel, California to raise funding for FoTT.

All Aboard Shops
One of our supporters is the charity All Aboard Shops, through the sales in its stores it financially supports small charities. London Waterkeeper is very happy to be a partner – clothing production uses and pollutes large amounts of water worldwide. Buying second hand clothes reduces this footprint. If you have any preloved good quality donations of clothing & bric-a-brac that could be sold in one of their 22 stores, you can drop them off or arrange a free collection: collections@allaboardshops.com or 020 8381 1717.

Big Give
Thank you to everyone that donated via Big Give’s Green Match Fund 2025. This was the first time we had done this and we hit our target, raising almost £6,000.

While some of the Thames Water investors today say they will sack the senior management as part of their restructuring plan, our position remains the same - the company needs to be taken into special administration. BBC News.