Help Improve the Quality of Britain’s Waterways

Sign the petition calling to keep Britain’s wastewater treatment standards in line with Europe

Improving the quality of Britain’s waterways will be a long-term and never-ending project. The Thames is much cleaner than it was 75 years ago. But we can’t be complacent.

Ageing infrastructure, climate change and emergent and newly recognised pollutants mean investment and vigilance are required to ensure our rivers, lakes and oceans are healthy for nature and safe for recreational use. Another concern is that treatment standards in the EU have recently been tightened, while the UK has not followed suit.

Elected MPs do listen to calls for change and improvement – but those calls need to be loud and repeated. One way to make our voices heard is through signing petitions.

With an official UK Parliamentary Petition, the government must respond if a petition receives 10,000 signatures. At 100,000 signatures, it must be considered for debate in Parliament.

We’d like to use our platform to ask you to sign this petition asking government to bring UK sewage treatment standards in line with the EU.

PLEASE SIGN NOW

What the petition demands

The petition demands that: “All new wastewater infrastructure must be built to well-established, higher international standards, in line with the revised EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) standards in force since 1 January 2025, to significantly reduce the pollution load on water bodies.”

Ian McNuff, who launched the petition, said: “It is wholly unacceptable that the UK has abandoned the scientific consensus shared by 450 million EU citizens in favour of weaker future water standards. Every swimmer who enters our waters deserves the same protections as their European counterparts – yet we are quietly lowering the bar on the national treasure that is our waterways. Only sustained public pressure will force the urgent action they deserve.”

It’s a local and a national issue

I need to confess a personal interest in this petition. The original motivation behind it is a proposed Thames Water Scheme to remove fresh water from the Thames near Teddington Lock and replace it with treated sewage effluent, but it’s clear that sewage treatment is a national issue.

Regular readers may be aware that this project – known as the Teddington Direct River Abstraction (TDRA) Scheme – would directly and negatively impact my favourite local swimming spot.

A spokesperson for SOLAR, a campaign group against the TDRA, said: “Thames Water is currently pushing for a license to pump treated effluent into our river via the Teddington Direct River Abstraction scheme. This is a proposal that wouldn’t stand a chance elsewhere in Europe, yet it’s being championed right here at the site of the Thames’ first-ever designated bathing water.

“The reality is grim: the ‘treated’ water they want to discharge will be laden with microplastics and ‘forever chemicals’ (PFAS). It is a total contradiction to grant a river protected status for swimmers, only to treat it as a waste pipe months later.

“We are calling on the swimming community to help us force a debate in Parliament by signing the petition that urges the government to review the regulations for new sewage treatment infrastructure and introduce new legislation to ensure high international standards are met.”

SIGN THE PETITION

Thank you for your support.