Kingsbury properties found polluting brook

Thames water estabish culprits after 5-year investigation

A POLLUTED brook has been cleaned up after a five year surveillance operation by a utility company.

Thames Water found 86 houses and shops in the Kingsbury area had connected their dirty kitchen and bathroom waste pipes to clean water drains instead of sewer pipes.

Some fast food outlets were also caught tipping cooking oil and fgat directly into Wealdstone Brook.

The water company’s environmental protection team used CCTV and coloured dyes to trace the culprits to Kingsbury Road, Preston Hill and Honeypot Lane.

Kate Jones, from Thames Water’s environmental protection technologist, said: “It was a long laborious process, which included using remotely controlled CCTV cameras and coloured dyes to trace the sources of pollution back to individual streets and properties.

“Pollution from homes can have a serious impact on local rivers.”

Homeowners have a legal responsibility to ensure their drains are properly connected to the public sewers; however no action was taken despite some property owners resisting requests to comply.

Ms Jones said: “A tell tale sign that your home is misconnected is when a waste pipe falls into the same drainage gully as a rainwater drainpipe from the roof.”

David Thrale, director of environmental health at Brent Council, said: “The council has a positive and proactive partnership with Thames Water to identify and tackle misconnected drains and waste pipes from households that could contaminate waterways.

“Where problems occur we work together to remedy them promptly.”