The Rediscovering the River Colne Project has produced an interesting summary of their work so far in Watford on local water quality.

This issue was discussed in November at the Watford Water Quality Public Forum.

Rivers across the United Kingdom face unprecedented issues as pollution impacts river water quality which in turn impacts the species living in the rivers. A major cause of pollution of the Colne, is raw sewage entering the river via drains and sewers that are meant to only carry rainwater. This can be caused when wastewater pipes are misconnected to the surface water sewers, either due to ignorance or corner cutting. In parts of the UK, it is estimated that as many as one in five properties have misconnections that discharge effluent into rivers.

The Watford Water Quality Report discusses what is causing these misconnections and how difficult it is to identify and solve them afterwards. Read more on this complex and interesting subject here.