A park in Stratford was covered in sewage and litter - including condoms and toilet roll - after a sewer overflowed into a canal.
The rubbish poured into the canal in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park during heavy rain, which caused the water levels to rise and sent sewage into the park’s water network.
The overflow at Mulberry Court in Newham pumped sewer water into a canal about 100m from the River Lea, which leads to the Thames.
The canal is part of the wetlands in the Olympic Park, which was intended to be an eco-friendly area which would allow animals and plant life to flourish.
However, this isn’t the first time sewage has been dumped in the Lea – The Guardian reported that in 2019, raw sewage was pumped into the river for over 1,000 hours.
The latest overflow saw much of the rubbish from the sewer stick in the gate at Mulberry Court, with the rest flowing further downstream.
Photos and videos posted online showed rubbish flushed down the toilet, from face masks to condom packets, pouring into the canal.
Users on Twitter responded furiously with one writing that the sewage spill was: “Just grim… and why is it left to local people to clean up this hell?”
Another said: “Horrible, but also why do people flush this stuff?? Pee, poo and paper is the only stuff that should be flushed.”
Another user added: “Heartbreaking and unforgivable. Considering how much I pay for that, I will add diabolical.”
Thames Water was contacted for comment.
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