Thames Water Propaganda
In their continuing efforts to bamboozle the public, Thames Water's unattributed scare propaganda article about coliform in the Thames Tideway is a nonsense and contains material errors. Without coliform in the environment, humans would not be able to develop healthy immune systems. We live with them all the time. Thames Water's Mr Stride is talking crap. Does he suggest removal of ducks and swans on the river or banning dog walking along the tow path to reduce coliform? No. Furthermore, as Mr Stride knows, swimming is banned in the Tideway by the Port of London Authority. The main group who make contact with Tideway water are rowers. They have been found to be many times more resistant to infections than the general population. An assessment of health cost (QUALY) results in a figure of £150 million if infections were eliminated. Hardly a case for spending £4.2Bn (excluding finance costs and inflation) on the Thames Water promoted Thames Tideway Tunnel to prevent a few tummy upsets.Mr Stride quotes a figure of 39 Million cubic metres of Thames Water’s discharges to the Tideway. What he fails to say is that later this year, when the Lee Tunnel is commissioned, that figure will reduce to 18 Million cubic metres. He also fails to say that the vast majority of that discharge is rain water and not foul sewage. Thames Water discharges only happen after rain. By design of point source control, rain can be stopped or delayed from entering the combined sewers at a far lower cost. What Mr Stride also omits to mention is that following the £1.2Bn spent including Mogden, Beckton and Crossness Sewage Treatment works upgrades, the Thames Tideway already meets the quality standards set by the Environment Agency in response to the EU Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. Once the Lee Tunnel is operational, the ecological conditions can only improve further.This means that you do not have to pay the £6 extra on your water bill this year, rising to £34 over the next 5 years then up to £70-80 extra (excluding inflation). Thames Water’s confidence trick has been exposed for what it is. The incoming Treasury ministers need to call a halt to this Thames Water scam and hold an independent review of current information urgently. There are far more urgent environmental issues to deal with not least, the cost of dealing with air pollution in London that results in thousands of premature deaths each year and is damaging our children’s health. NB Thames 21 is funded by Thames Water and therefore cannot be considered objective or independent.
Roland Willis Gilmore ● 3923d1 Comments