HELP US PROTECT THE RIVER WANDLE WITH THESE EASY CHANGES

Report it: If you spot pollution in the river, you need to report it to the Environment Agency on 0800 80 70 60. They will ask for your location and a description of what you can see.

Save water: By reducing the amount of water you use, you are protecting the river in two ways. Firstly, the less water we use, the less demand there is to abstract water from the river. This keeps the flow of the river high and ensures fish and other aquatic wildlife have somewhere to live.

Secondly, the less water you use, the less water the Sewage Treatment Works has to deal with. In periods of high rainfall, the Sewage Treatment Works can become overloaded and has to discharge raw sewage into the river. By reducing what we use, we can decrease the frequency of this occurring.  

There are many ways you can save water in your home and at work. Check out the Thames Water site for ideas and to order free water saving kits.

Connect Right: Make sure your house isn’t accidentally polluting the Wandle through a misconnected pipe. A misconnected pipe is where your toilet or washing machine is plumbed into the wrong sewer system and is taken straight to the river instead of to the Sewage Treatment Works. You can check your house at www.connectright.org.uk

Wash with care: All road drains lead straight to the river. This means if you wash your car or wheelie bin over a drain, you are putting all those chemicals straight into the river. Try and wash on a surface such as a gravel drive or grass – this gives a chance for the chemicals to be filtered out before reaching the Wandle.

Dispose with care: Fats and oils down the sink drain can cause blockages in the sewer network. If these blockages become too large, they can cause local flooding and result in sewage entering the river. To dispose of fats carefully, mop them up with a paper towel and throw it in your bin instead.

The River Guardians project was funded through National Lottery’s Heritage Lottery Fund as part of the Living Wandle Landscape Partnership.