Thames Water should not be using the Green Lanes Stream and the Hogsmill River in Epsom & Ewell and Kingston Boroughs, as open sewers.

The Hogsmill is one of only 200 chalk streams in the world and used to be teeming with wildlife. Yet, it is now so polluted that warning signs advise people and their pets to stay out.

As can be seen in the photo of their confluence, the rivers are delicate streams and cannot accommodate sewage overflows.

The pollution affects Epsom, Ewell, Tolworth, Surbiton and Kingston. It then enters the Thames affecting London and the Thames Estuary. 

The sewage is killing the rivers: destroying wildlife, poisoning animals, and makes it unsafe for kids or animals to play in them. Some local residents who live by the Hogsmill say it now stinks.

In 2021, the Rivers Trust calculated that a total of 159 hours of sewage went into the streams across 47 incidents - almost one per week.

According to the Rivers Trust, the causes of the discharges are faulty sensors by Green Lanes Stream; insufficiently large sewage tanks at Manor Rd, Ewell; and comms failures at the outdated Hogsmill A Waste-water Works in Kingston.

While there are plans for the impact of some of these issues to be reduced by a wetlands area in Ewell, to disperse the pollution, we call on Thames Water to stop the issues at source by investing some of its vast profits in upgrading the sewage infrastructure in the area. 

This petition was created by Mark Todd on behalf of Epsom & Ewell Labour Party and is supported by Mole Valley & Epsom and Ewell Green Party, Kingston & Surbiton Labour Party and Kingston & Surbiton Green Party.

Thank you for your time and hopefully your support.