Last spring, the Environment Agency fined a major developer £200,000 after a "milky white discharge" was spotted flowing from a drainage pipe near Wandsworth Park. The culprit? A wheel wash station draining directly into a surface water sewer.
But the tunnel cannot stop a car wash from dumping degreaser into a roadside grate. It cannot dissolve a fatberg. commercial drainage goring on thames
Unlike London’s clay, Goring sits on chalk and gravel. During winter, the water table rises and literally gorges (pours into) the commercial sewer pipes through cracks. Local pubs and the Goring Hotel Spa have reported that their drainage systems cannot handle the "clear water intrusion." The result? During peak flow, the local pumping station cannot keep up, leading to sewage backing up into the basements of riverside businesses. Last spring, the Environment Agency fined a major
But it cannot swallow our apathy. Next time you see a café owner hosing fryer oil toward a curb drain, or a builder washing cement into a roadside gully, remember: That drain leads to the Thames. And the Thames leads to all of us. If you are a commercial business owner along the Thames corridor and need a drainage audit, contact Thames Water’s Trade Effluent team or your local council’s environmental health office. But the tunnel cannot stop a car wash
"The public sees a pipe and thinks 'treatment plant,'" says Kolve. "They don't realize that a commercial drain labeled 'surface water' goes straight to the river. If a car wash pours its chemicals down that grate, you are drinking it downstream." Editor’s note: If you are searching for issues in Goring-on-Thames specifically, the problem is geological.
We are witnessing a quiet war being waged in the pipes. And right now, the river is losing. Walk down any high street within a mile of the Thames. The independent burger joints, the five-star hotel kitchens, the bustling food markets—they are the lifeblood of the riverside economy. They are also the primary breeders of the Fatberg .
