the poor state of the Thames revealed by the Oxford-Cambridge race

The dirt on the river, highlighted by the statements of participants in the traditional race between the two English universities, is a consequence of the inadequacy of the water treatment system.

The traditional rowing race between Cambridge and Oxford, the two prestigious English universities, took place on Saturday March 30. It was Cambridge who won this year, but their victory quickly faded into the background: what everyone is talking about in England is the dirt on the Thames.

The river, according to participants, was dirty to the point of making some of them sick. Just after the race, one of the Oxford crew members explained that he had vomited that morning, after several days of training on the water, which he said was filled with excrement. In the days that followed, three other rowers revealed they had been taken ill.

The organizers also asked the athletes not to jump into the river to celebrate victory, as is the custom. In fact, shortly before the competition, water tests revealed high levels of the bacteria Escherichia Coli. It can cause serious infections. This bacteria is found in dirty water. According to River Action, an association which campaigns to protect waterways, this pollution has a clearly identified origin: the frequent discharge of wastewater into the Thames and its tributaries.

Wastewater treatment, a real social problem

This comes up regularly, with unsavory images of waterways or even the sea. On several occasions, photos of the coastline in very touristy sites like Brighton or Cornwall have shown long brown streaks in the sea, at the same place where we bathe a few weeks later. A pollution that we feel, that we see.

What is at issue is an old and even obsolete system that the country is not modernizing quickly enough. In fact, the evacuation of rainwater and wastewater, particularly from toilets, passes through the same pipes. When it rains a lot, and this is a country where that can happen, the system is overwhelmed. The treatment centers cannot cope and the risk is that everything will end up in the houses through the pipes. We must therefore “let go of the ballast” and this is where we dump the surplus into the rivers or the sea. This is the responsibility of Thames Water, which for these days and in particular the race Oxford-Cambridge, reports record levels of rain in the preceding days.

But it goes well beyond that, as official figures prove: England discharged twice as much wastewater without treatment in 2023 as in 2022.