Campaign group Save Ham Lands & River is protesting Thames Water's plans to despoil the nature reserve and riverbank at Ham Lands 10:30am, 9 September. 

Walkers, runners, swimmers, residents, rowers and other water sports clubs will meet at Ham Lands, close to Burnell and Dysart Avenues, to show the strength of feeling against the proposals. 

The controversial water recycling scheme proposes to take water from above Teddington Weir, transfer it via an existing underground tunnel to the Lee Valley reservoirs, and replace it with treated wastewater from Mogden Sewage Treatment Works. 

Route of the tunnel from Mogden sewage works to Teddington (Credit https://www.savehamlandsandriver.org.uk/)

Twickenham MP Munira Wilson, campaigning on this issue, said in a parliament debate: "To replace that fresh water, Thames Water plans to pump millions upon millions of litres of treated effluent from Mogden sewage treatment works into the river at Teddington […] into a tranquil yet lively hotspot for fishing, boating, paddleboarding and even wild swimming. 

The scheme would provide up to 75 million litres of water a day during droughts and dry weather, but it would not be designed to run at these levels all year. 

The group is hoping to show the breadth and depth of local community opposition (including a Dragon Boat, kayaks, rowing boats, launches and hundreds of residents on the riverbank) to the controversial scheme. 

During the protest, participants will be listen local community groups about why they are concerned about the scheme, why it is the wrong decision and the level of environmental destruction which could be caused as a result. 

Participants will have the opportunity to ask expert volunteers any personal questions about the proposals. The volunteers have ploughed through the thousands of pages of documentation to unearth the details of how the proposals will impact locally. 

Ms Munira invited the Environmental Quality and Resilience Minister, Rebecca, Pow to the meeting on Saturday to listen to resdients' concerns and discuss the scheme in more detail. 

Despite 24,000 people signing a petition against the scheme, Thames Water are still pressing ahead with the process. 

A Thames Water spokesperson said: "We need to invest in new sources of water if we are to provide a secure and sustainable water supply for the future. Our work to date demonstrates that the proposed abstraction scheme in West London is a cost-effective option and our environmental studies have shown that the scheme would not cause detriment to the environment.  

"The scheme will provide up to 75 million litres per day as a drought resilience scheme.

"We are also focused on leakage reduction and have committed to more than halve leakage by 2050, with over 20,000 km of water pipe under London and across the Thames Valley this is massively ambitious.   

"However, measures to tackle leakage and to reduce customer demand for water will not be sufficient on their own. We also need to invest in building new water infrastructure, which is why we're proposing to invest in several new sources of water across the South East." 

The Teddington Direct River Abstraction scheme has been chosen by the company in order to meet the shortfall in water supply. If the Government is happy with the plan, it will be finalised and published in 2024. 

Sign the petition here.