TDRA Scheme Information Events

Following on from changes announced to their original proposals Thames Water are planning a number of Information Events “focusing on these and other changes, and what they mean for local communities”. The events are being held in Twickenham, Ham, Kingston and Isleworth - unfortunately none are in Teddington. Attendees are asked to register in advance via the Thames Water website.

In Juky they announced a move from pipejacking to tunnel boring to “significantly reduce visual impacts, as four ventilation shafts and construction compounds are removed from the project design. This also reduces the number of traffic movements that would have been associated with the original shaft and associated compound sites”.

Then this week they announced a further change that would “remove the need to continually discharge treated water upstream of Teddington Weir. It would instead discharge the maintenance flow, which keeps the water recycling process in good working order, at Isleworth, using existing infrastructure. As a result of this change, treated water would only be discharged upstream of Teddington Weir when the Teddington Direct River Abstraction (TDRA) project is in operation – on average, once every two years”. So, instead of discharging the "sweetening flow" of  treated effluent  at 25% of full volume every hour of every day of the year at discharge point upstream of the weir when at 100% discharge it will send it down to Isleworth. SOLAR’s view is that this still does not remove the argument that discharges above the weir will contain many substances - hormones, antibiotics, PFA's etc that will do harm to water quality at times when the river is most vulnerable - summer low flow, high temperature etc and will not be allowed in EU countries from 2045, twelve years after TDRA is due to start.

18 Sep 2024