Within the next hour and a half, Mogden Sewage Treatment Works will be discharging heavily diluted storm water into the River Thames.
Storm water is screened, settled in tanks and mixed with fully treated wastewater before it reaches the river.
We regret the necessity to discharge partly treated effluent in this way. Improvements are already under way at Mogden to reduce the chance of this happening in the future.
Until this essential work is done, London's sewer network - which is Victorian - and other facilities will remain overstretched. This means that after heavy rain there is simply nowhere else for excess storm sewage to go, which is why these discharges, though regrettable, are legal and consented.