An MP has been joined by an organisation representing 150 voluntary groups and a rivers charity in calling for punitive “polluter pays” fines for whoever was responsible for this week’s massively damaging diesel spillage into the River Wandle.
Barrier method: environmentalists fear that the best efforts of Merton Council and the fire brigade won’t stop the diesel
Bobby Dean, the MP for Carshalton and Wallington, called the spillage of 4,000 litres of fuel on Tuesday an “environmental disaster”.
“This spill has undone decades of work by hundreds of volunteers who have helped restore the Wandle from an ecologically dead river to a thriving ecosystem,” Dean said.
The MP has suggested that the diesel was likely to have entered the Wandle through a sewage treatment works at Beddington – rather than from a bus depot two miles away at Thornton Heath, as had been reported.
Yesterday, the Environment Agency was maintaining that Thornton Heath was the source of the spillage, and a focus for its investigation. “It got into the surface water drains, which eventually outfalls into the Wandle,” an EA spokesperson told Inside Croydon, although they were unable to offer any explanation how the fuel made that two-mile journey underground…
“We are currently on-site remediating the spill, gathering evidence and assessing the environmental impact for our investigation, with the pollution source suspected to be a bus depot storage tank in Thornton Heath, Croydon.
“We’re likely to be on-site over the weekend.”
The River Wandle is a rare chalk stream which over the past couple of decades have been revived and restored into a thriving haven for wildlife, including brown trout, herons and kingfishers.
South Croydon source: the Wandle is liable to be blighted for years by the diesel spillage
The Wandle Valley Forum, an organisation of voluntary groups which work all the way along the nine-mile course of the river, from its source in South Croydon, through Waddon Ponds and Wandle Park in Croydon to Beddington, from Carshalton Ponds and on towards the Thames at Wandsworth, was able to pinpoint exactly where the diesel-tainted water entered the river.
They even provided photographic evidence showing the channel that joins the Wandle from the Beddington Sewage Works (which is connected to road drains).
“The chalk stream Wandle upstream to Wilderness Island, Beddington Park, Carshalton Ponds and Croydon is unaffected,” the Wandle Valley Forum said in a Twitter thread.
According to WVF, adjusting the weir at Morden Hall Park and the National Trust’s Watermeads nature reserve “failed to stop the oil and booms were put in place – too late to prevent oil going down river to the Thames.
“Oil is still very visible along the river edge two days after the spill and there are powerful smells.”
This is where the damage gets pernicious: “Oil is present in the whole river channel, not just the surface, and is entering the river bed, gravel and sediment.”
Jack Hogan, from the South East Rivers Trust, explained: “The real danger comes over the coming days, weeks and months, if not years, where this diesel breaks down into smaller particles and sinks down into the water.
“It’ll start binding on to fish’s gills, attaching itself to sediments, soaking into vegetation and banks, and diesel is highly toxic in those situations.”
The WVF said: “There are widespread reports of oiled birds and the river surface is covered with dead insects. Fish will also be affected. The long-term impact on the food chain is uncertain and needs monitoring.”
The WVF said: “We’re calling for prosecution of the perpetrators, with fines going to restore the river; immediate implementation of long-term pollution monitoring; lessons learned review to improve future emergency responses; and a network of alert sensors.”
Sourced: WVF’s photo showing diesel-polluted water coming from the channel (left) from Beddington Sewage Plant, into the Wandle
Eco charity the South East Rivers Trust struck a similar theme in their own statement about the River Wandle.
“We firmly believe those responsible for pollution should pay to repair the damage they cause,” the Trust said.
Privatised water monopoly Thames Water – which as Inside Croydon first reported in 2023 wants to be given permission to continue to dump sewage into the Wandle until 2035 – said that it is “carrying out an intense clean-up of our surface water sewers”, while referring to a “third-party responsible for the pollution”, as they seek to pass the buck, potentially to Transport for London.
A TfL spokesperson told the BBC: “Any pollution into London’s waterways is completely unacceptable and we will play our part in tackling river pollution both from roads we control and our vehicle fleet.”
A request has gone out that any sightings of birds on the Wandle covered in diesel should be reported to the Swan Sanctuary on 01932 240790 or the RSPCA on 0300 1234 999.
The Environment Agency can be called on their incident line for any sightings of build-up of diesel on the waterway by calling 0800 807060.
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