Features

Roding Report

roding

Chair of the River Roding Trust Paul Powlesland reports on the results of the river’s first-ever comprehensive water testing programme, with some disturbing figures for the Alders Brook 

The water testing project – which ran between May and September 2024 – brought together the River Roding Trust, Thames21 and local volunteers (citizen scientists) in an excellent example of local coordination and action. 

The results are good and bad. There is clearly a serious problem with combined sewer overflows (CSOs) illegally spilling sewage into the stretch of the Roding between Loughton and Ilford. That being the case, the water quality as the river enters London is OK, and often good, so there is real hope that if these CSOs are fixed, the Roding could achieve bathing water quality status in London. 

To produce this report, local volunteers had a rota to collect samples in eight different locations along the river from Loughton down to Ilford. Originally, sampling was only going to go down to Ilford, but thanks to lobbying from the River Roding Trust, it was extended downstream to give the people of Barking information about water quality in their stretch of the river. These samples were sent off to be tested for E. coli in a lab. The results were then analysed by Thames21, plotted onto graphs and compared to rainfall data to begin to understand what was causing any raised levels of E. coli. Results were analysed against the Bathing Water Regulations (2013) standard for Faecal Indicator Organisms levels, which the Environmental Agency uses to classify designated bathing water quality.

In many ways, it is a damning indictment of the Environment Agency that such testing has never been carried out before. How can it be government agencies had no idea whether the water in the third-largest river in London, flowing through the middle of massive population centres, was grossly polluted?

Nine outfalls discharged untreated sewage for a total of 316 hours, causing clear spikes in bacteria levels at many sample points during the monitoring programme, at times in periods of very little rainfall. These discharges meant many of the samples collected produced results that were poor and showed E. coli above safe bathing water quality levels. 

The worst performing outfall was in the Alders Brook (a tributary of the River Roding with its source within the City of London Cemetery), which was causing E. coli spikes of up to 19 times safe limits. What makes this more infuriating is that I discovered this illegal outfall nearly four years ago and it still has not been fixed by Thames Water. 

It is heartening that, thanks to the efforts of local volunteers, we now have a picture of water quality on the Roding for the very first time. We now need the Environment Agency to do its job as guardian of the river and act on this report by stopping all illegal sewage spills into the Roding.


For more information and to view the report, visit wnstd.com/rodingwater

Editor
Author: Editor