Sewage pollution: Citizen eco-warriors armed with budget shed tech patrol whiffy river frontline
What can you do with varnish, plywood, a wheelbarrow inner tube and a solar panel not much bigger than a mobile phone?
The answer, if you are a computer genius with a conscience, is to fight back against sewage pollution.
John Clifford has created an early warning system.
He said: “When pollution spikes, if it goes up more than 10%, we know that something’s gone on in the river.
“When several sensors all at once that are telling us the same thing, then we know that there’s a big problem.
“The app on my phone will update regularly and quite often.
“It’s the first thing I check in the morning.”
Mr Clifford lives in west London and the kit will float on the River Brent which, like so many of our rivers, is regularly polluted.
Alongside colleagues he’s making at least 30 of these sensors which measure what’s called TDS or total dissolvable solids – shorthand for faeces, food waste and soap residue.
They send data on the level of these unwanted ingredients in real time to an app, but despite that sophistication they are cheap.
The floating gadgets, which are able to monitor pollution levels around the clock, are cheap
At around £100 per sensor they are a fraction of the cost of professional kit which typically can cost £6,000.
The team behind the tech, CURB (Clean Up River Brent), got together after local resident Ben Morris was outraged by an incident in 2021, which turned the river grey with sewage sludge bordered by soapy white residue and was very smelly.
They began with campaigning and clean ups, but he feels their gadgets will make the biggest difference.
Read more:
State of emergency in New York City as ‘life-threatening storm’ causes flooding
Far more Tory voters back net zero target than don’t, survey finds
Microplastics in clouds may be contributing to climate change, researchers warn
Mr Morris said: “Once you know what’s in the river, you can then start to have a conversation about what should be done about it.
“At the moment, there are too many unknowns about the sewerage system, too many unknowns about water quality.
“You get something like this in nationwide, we can really raise public awareness and political awareness, and then we have to have that tough conversation about what we’re going to do about it.”
Across England, there were over 300,000 sewage spills in 2022
And he is perfectly happy to get to grips with the dirty end of the stick too.
I join him mid-stream, up to our waists in the River Brent just beside a massive drainage pipe.
The water around us is flecked with fragmented toilet paper and twigs trapped beneath the surface are draped with a flowing beard of dirty tissue.
‘It does whiff’
Thankfully we are in waders, but it does whiff.
We are installing two types of sensor.
One is static, fixed to a stake hammered into the river bed, the other their new floating design.
It is tethered to a paving slab on a length of rope.
It has a solar panel on the top, a box of electronics beneath, sitting on the inflated inner tube while dangling below in the water are the actual sensors.
When the river rises after heavy rain, it remains on the surface and able to communicate 24/7.
This is important as pollution is often worse when the sewerage system is overwhelmed in a downpour.
Across England, there were over 300,000 sewage spills in 2022.
Click to subscribe to ClimateCast with Tom Heap wherever you get your podcasts
The Environment Agency faces accusations of failing to protect our waterways but its budget has been cut by half in the past decade and Lewis Elmes, the area catchment coordinator, says they will gladly accept help from talented amateurs.
He said: “It complements what we’re doing, as it really increases the scope of what we’re able to achieve by producing a bit of equipment that’s so much cheaper than our much more expensive bits of kit.
“It really allows us to work to expand the boundaries of what we can look at in our rivers and the amount of outfalls that we can keep an eye on.”
River Brent’s own ‘Q branch’
The Environment Agency is trialling the brilliant shed tech from the River Brent’s own “Q branch” over the next year.
If it works the idea could go nationwide giving a much clearer, immediate picture of water pollution.
When it comes to fighting back, knowledge is power.
Reports of a “board-level orchestrated coup” at the BBC are “complete nonsense”, non-executive director Sir Robbie Gibb has told MPs.
Sir Robbie, whose position on the BBC board has been challenged by critics in recent weeks, was among senior leaders, including the broadcaster’s chair, Samir Shah, to face questions from the Culture, Media and Sport committee about the current crisis.
The hearing took place in the wake of the fallout over the edit of a speech by US President Donald Trump, which prompted the resignation of the corporation’s director-general and the chief executive of BBC News, and the threat of a lawsuit from the US president.
Former BBC editorial adviser Michael Prescott wrote the memo that was leaked. Pic: PA
Former editorial adviser Michael Prescott, whose leaked memo sparked the recent chain of events, also answered questions from MPs – telling the hearing he felt he kept seeing “incipient problems” that were not being tackled.
He also said Mr Trump’s reputation had “probably not” been tarnished by the Panorama edit.
During his own questioning, Sir Robbie addressed concerns of potential political bias – he left BBC News in 2017 to become then prime minister Theresa May’s director of communications, a post he held until 2019, and was appointed to the BBC board in 2021 by Boris Johnson.
BBC board member Sir Robbie Gibb appearing before the Culture, Media and Sport committee. Pic: PA
“I know it’s hard to marry the fact that I spent two years as director of communications for the government… and my genuine passion for impartiality,” he said.
“I want to hear the full range of views… I don’t want the BBC to be partisan or favour any particular way.”
Asked about reports and speculation that there has been a “board-level orchestrated coup”, Sir Robbie responded: “It’s up there as one of the most ridiculous charges… People had to find some angle.
“It’s complete nonsense. It’s also deeply offensive to fellow board members… people of great standing in different fields.”
He said his political work has been “weaponised” – and that it was hard as a non-executive member of the BBC to respond to criticism.
‘We should have made the decision earlier’
BBC chair Samir Shah also answered questions. Pic: PA
Mr Shah admitted the BBC was too slow in responding to the issue of the Panorama edit of Mr Trump, which had been flagged long before the leaked memo.
“Looking back, I think we should have made the decision earlier,” he said. “I think in May, as it happens.
“I think there is an issue about how quickly we respond, the speed of our response. Why do we not do it quickly enough? Why do we take so much time? And this was another illustration of that.”
Following reports of the leaked memo, it took nearly a week for the BBC to issue an apology.
Mr Shah told the committee he did not think Mr Davie needed to resign over the issue and that he “spent a great deal of time” trying to stop him from doing so.
Is director-general role too big for one person?
Tim Davie is stepping down as BBC director-general
Asked about his own position, Mr Shah said his job now is to “steady the ship”, and that he is not someone “who walks away from a problem”.
A job advert for the BBC director-general role has since gone live on the corporation’s careers website.
Mr Shah told the hearing his view is that the role is “too big” for one person and that he is “inclined” to restructure roles at the top.
He says he believes there should also be a deputy director-general who is “laser-focused on journalism”, which is “the most important thing and our greatest vulnerability”.
Earlier in the hearing, Mr Prescott gave evidence alongside another former BBC editorial adviser, Caroline Daniel.
He told the CMS committee that there are “issues of denial” at the BBC and said “the management did not accept there was a problem” with the Panorama episode.
Mr Prescott’s memo highlighted concerns about the way clips of Mr Trump’s speech on January 6 2021 were spliced together so it appeared he had told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to “fight like hell”.
‘I can’t think of anything I agree with Trump on’
Mr Trump has said he is going to pursue a lawsuit of between $1bn and $5bn against the broadcaster, despite receiving an official public apology.
Asked if the documentary had harmed Mr Trump’s image, Mr Prescott responded: “I should probably restrain myself a little bit, given that there is a potential legal action.
“All I could say is, I can’t think of anything I agree with Donald Trump on.”
He was later pushed on the subject, and asked again if he agreed that the programme tarnished the president’s reputation, to which he then replied: “Probably not.”
Read more:
Experts on why Trump might struggle to win lawsuit
Why are people calling for Sir Robbie Gibb to go?
Mr Prescott, a former journalist, also told the committee he did not know how his memo was leaked to the Daily Telegraph.
“At the most fundamental level, I wrote that memo, let me be clear, because I am a strong supporter of the BBC.
“The BBC employs talented professionals across all of its factual and non-factual programmes, and most people in this country, certainly myself included, might go as far as to say that they love the BBC.
He said he “never envisaged” the fallout that would occur. “I was hoping the concerns I had could, and would, be addressed privately in the first instance.”
Asked if he thinks the BBC is institutionally biased, he said: “No, I don’t.”
He said that “tonnes” of the BBC’s work is “world class” – but added that there is “real work that needs to be done” to deal with problems.
Mr Davie, he said, did a “first-rate job” as director-general but had a “blind spot” toward editorial failings.
Police have appealed for information after a man was charged with murdering two women and raping a third.
Simon Levy has been charged with murdering 53-year-old Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo who died on the Aylesbury Estate, south-east London, on 17 March, the Metropolitan Police said.
In September, Levy, of Beaufoy Road, Tottenham, north London, was charged with murdering 39-year-old Sheryl Wilkins who was found unresponsive in High Road, Tottenham, on 24 August.
He is also accused of grievous bodily harm with intent, non-fatal strangulation and two counts of rape against a third woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in Haringey, north London, on 21 January, police said.
The 40-year-old will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday charged with Ms Valencia-Trujillo’s murder.
Sheryl Wilkins was found unresponsive in High Road, Tottenham, on 24 August. Pic: Metropolitan Police
He is also due to appear at the Old Bailey on Wednesday for a plea and trial preparation hearing for the murder of Ms Wilkins.
Detectives believe there may be individuals who have information relevant to this investigation – or who are yet to report incidents which have directly impacted them – and are asking for people to come forward.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the latest version.
You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
UK
Family of woman killed 56 years ago, in a case of mistaken identity, believe her remains are buried in a garden
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment3 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024