11Feb

Photograph of sudden high stream water level

Friends of Crofton and Sparrow Woods has recently confirmed that sewage is discharged into the western branch of the Kyd Brook that runs through the woods - the branch that runs alongside the Eynsford Recreation Ground and playground. You can see this when the sream runs very high suddenly - as seen in the photos below.

Committee Member Kirsty has been researching the issue. We have long known that rainwater from some of our very local roads is run through pipes into both branches of the streams - which does cause some pollution from diesel spills and if people dump unsuitable liquids into the road drains.  

More concerning is the sewer system. This was designed many may years agao, and as time has passed we have more toilets with longer flushes, and there are more houses. All that waste goes into the sewer, with waste water from our houses.  However, those sewers are also required to carry a lot of rainwater, so when it rains hard for along time, the amount of liquid can become so great that the sewer floods.  The sewers are designed with over flows -and we have confirmation that at least one is discharging into the stream.

That is being monitored, so that the number of times a discharge takes place can be checked using the link https://www.thameswater.co.uk/edm-map?embedded_webview=true -and the postcode BR6 8LT. Click on the tick that appears for more informaton.

We know that there is a storm drain in Crofton Road, but we do not yet know whether this also is a sewer overflow- Kirsty is curretly trying to find out.

So, after a lot of rain, we suggest you keep children and dogs out of the stream.