high levels of E. coli in Thames

[Hymie]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-68674088

[Redhelen72]

@1432 Yes, I see the problem - the problem is you are and others are trying to gag users

[Modness]

Redhelen72 - no-one is trying to gag users.

Can we get back to the topic of pollution in the Thames, please?

[jno]

no, Ofwat is all Britain's own doing. Or not doing, as the case may be.

[newmodarmy]

If we want to improve the quality of our water we should lobby our government (and opposition MPs) on that. Using as a reason to crowbar Brexit into it is going to be a turn-off to many people and is going to divert the discussion onto all the Remainer hobby horses. We're not going back into EU in the next 10-20 years at least so let's focus on things we can do rather than dwell on the past.

[gulliver1]

Hymie. "Your report says it's due to decades of neglect".Not true. It is due to neglect just over the past fourteen years. Just like everything else that has been neglected over the past fourteen years.

[naomi24]

Well done, Gulliver.  Confirmation that it's not due to Brexit.  

[retrocop]

Oops. Back in the net. Who has shot himself in the foot?

Lol PMSL

[Old_Geezer]

No, you are mistaken. You should blame it on the authorities who clearly are not giving river water quality enough attention. Has nothing to do with your favourite scapegoat.

[jourdain2]

It's a lot longer than 14 years.  My 1st husband was a mains drainage engineer since 1970 - Calderdale, Wakefield & Bradford - then he ended up down south somewhere.  It has always been the Cinderella section of local govt. expenditure.  

There were quite a few big efforts in the 1980's/90s - a HUGE storm-water-capture underground 'cathedral' in Bradford L.A. for example.  It's not very 'glamorous' though.  That one worked for quite a while.  Then the population exploded and there has been massive building - same as most places - so instead of coping with a 1 in 200yr. storm (as designed) it is having to be discharged into the R. Aire far more frequently.

More sewerage treatment plants are needed - not glamorous (but they grow great tomatoes!).

[Old_Geezer]

They can stink out the local area though. Probably best located miles from "anywhere".

[retrocop]

Quite by right OG. Same as the overcrowded  immigrant ghettos.

The outlying villages and towns in Germany could  not cope with the excess sewage when Merkel foisted hundreds of n migrants on them. Fact

[New Judge]

The blame for polluted rivers in this country lies with the water companies charged with keeping them clean.

"If we were still in the EU, you can bet we’d be heavily fined for the amount of raw sewage dumped in our rivers and coastal waters" 

What exactly would that achieve? All it would do is suck money from the UK and pass it on to Brussels who will probably use it to build a new motorway in Bulgaria.

You seem to crave protection from the EU to such a degree I really don't understand why you don't up sticks to live there. Oh no! I forgot - you'll probably say you can't since we're no longer members.

[fripfrip]

Hymie,if you think the thames is polluted you should go to venice for a few days and it might just alter your opinion.

[newmodarmy]

I think it started quite a bit before Brexit, Hymie.

https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/photographs/the-great-stink/#:~:text=For%20centuries%20the%20River%20Thames,as%20'The%20Great%20Stink'.

[tomus42]

Whatever the reasons, the boat race should be called off until the river has less sheet in it.

The cancellation of the event may shame someone into doing something.

[10ClarionSt]

I remember a couple of months ago when it was announced that water bills would rise to help pay for the cost of updating sewage treatment and out lets. I think it was on the Nicky Campbell phone in and the CEO of one of the water companies had said they would have to do this to raise the money. 

Enter Fergal Sharkey, he of "A Good Heart" fame, who is strongly opposed to the water companies. He said the companies have had the money; they've had £73bn in profits since privatisation. What have they done with it? Where are the billions that should have been re-invested into the companies? 

I think we all know the answer. It went into shareholders pockets  and the company has no shame whatsoever about that, which means us mugs will have to pay more to the water companies whilst their shareholders still rake it in. I think it might have something to do with traitor Thatchers ideas of making people "more responsible" and privatising the utility companies.

[jno]

just as long as it's not the water co's who have to be responsible, Clarion, heaven forbid...

[ABSpareEditor]

This news article doesn't mention Brexit. It's confusing because I can't tell what topic you'd like to discuss. 

I've amended the title. 

[DTCwordfan]

I'm surprised that the Op is not wanting to attack the eliteness of the sport that rowing represents and also on our worldclass tertiary education that Oxbridge delivers.