LONDON (AP) — The coach of Oxford’s crew taking part in the Boat Race described the pollution in London’s River Thames as a “national disgrace” as the company responsible for its upkeep faces mounting financial difficulties that critics say will need it to be taken back into state hands.
Testing by a campaign group has found high levels of E.coli along a section of the Thames in southwest London that will be used for the historic race on Saturday.
Crew members have been warned about the risks of entering the water and advised to use a “cleansing station” at the finish area. The pollution has also cast doubt on the post-race tradition of throwing the winning cox into the water.
It comes as figures released by the Environment Agency showed the level of sewage spills into England’s rivers and seas by water companies more than doubled in 2023 compared to 2022, reaching 3.6 million hours of spills in 2023 compared to 1.75 million hours in 2022.
FILE - The Oxford crew, right, throw their cox Colin Groshong into the Thames at the 155th Boat Race, in London, Sunday March 29, 2009. Jumping into London’s River Thames has been the customary celebration for members of the winning crew in the annual Boat Race between storied English universities Oxford and Cambridge. Now researchers say it comes with a health warning. (AP Photo/Tom Hevezi, File)
There has been no suggestion that the annual Boat Race between storied universities Oxford and Cambridge that dates to 1829 will not go ahead. The women's race will precede the men's event along the same 4.2-mile (6.8-kilometer) section of the Thames.
But Oxford coach Sean Bowden has lamented the state of the water.
“It’s a national disgrace, isn’t it?” Bowden posed. “It would be terrific if the Boat Race drew attention to it. We are very keen to play a part and we recognize we have a role and a responsibility to it.
“Why,” he added in British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, “would you want to put your kids out in that?”
Invariably, the focus has turned to whether the winning crew will dunk its cox into the Thames at the end of the race.
“If there’s a health and safety problem, I don’t think we’ll be throwing him in because we don’t want to risk that,” said Harry Glenister, who has rowed for Britain and will compete for Oxford.
“It’s just too much of a risk. We support whatever the Boat Race is saying about the conditions in the water. We just hope we’ll win and then we’ll decide.”
Cambridge has won four of the last five men’s races and leads the rivalry 86-81.
The Cambridge men's team pass under Hammersmith Bridge during a training session on the River Thames in London, Tuesday March 26, 2024. Jumping into London’s River Thames has been the customary celebration for members of the winning crew in the annual Boat Race between storied English universities Oxford and Cambridge. Now researchers say it comes with a health warning.(John Walton/PA via AP)
Cambridge has also won six straight in the women’s race.
E.coli bacteria normally live in the intestines of healthy people and animals. Most strains are harmless, cause relatively brief diarrhea and most people recover without much incident, according to the Mayo clinic. But small doses of some strains — including just a mouthful of contaminated water — can cause a range of conditions, including urinary tract infection, cystitis, intestinal infection and vomiting, with the worst cases leading to life-threatening blood poisoning.
River Action, a campaign group, said the testing locations suggested the source of pollution was from utility company Thames Water discharging sewage directly into the river and its tributaries. Thames Water, Britain’s largest water company, is facing huge pressure to clear up the river, though it insists that the elevated levels of E.coli are not necessarily its fault.
FILE - Members of the Oxford University rowing team throw their cox Nicholas Brodie, centre, into the river after beating Cambridge University, at the 154th annual Boat Race on the River Thames, London, Saturday, March 29, 2008. Jumping into London’s River Thames has been the customary celebration for members of the winning crew in the annual Boat Race between storied English universities Oxford and Cambridge. Now researchers say it comes with a health warning. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)
“I would point out that E.coli has many different sources,” the company's recently appointed chief executive Chris Weston told the BBC. “It is not just from sewage, it is also from land run-off, it is from highway run-off, it is from animal feces. All of those things contribute to the problem and I am absolutely determined that at Thames, we will play our part in cleaning up the problem and so the Thames is a river that people can use as they would like to everyday.”
Under a plan drawn up last summer, Thames Water was asking investors to inject close to 4 billion pounds ($5.05 billion) into the business over the next five years. However, on Thursday shareholders refused to make the first payment of 500 million pounds ($630 million) without a big increase in consumers’ water bills, a demand that the industry regulator denied.
Weston insisted that it was “business as usual” at the debt-laden company as it has enough financial resources to survive into next year, by which time he hoped a new funding arrangement will have been agreed. However, the news has raised speculation that the company may have to be nationalized.
The parlous state of many of Britain's rivers, canals and coastlines is set to feature heavily in the general election, which is expected to take place in the next few months. The main opposition Labour Party, which is way ahead of the governing Conservatives in opinion polls, has said it will make sure that “new investment comes through to fix the broken sewage system without taxpayers being left to foot the bill."
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The Cambridge Men's team during a training session on the River Thames in Putney, London, Wednesday March 27, 2024. Jumping into London’s River Thames has been the customary celebration for members of the winning crew in the annual Boat Race between storied English universities Oxford and Cambridge. Now researchers say it comes with a health warning. (Zac Goodwin/PA via AP)
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Police say two people have died and five are missing following a boat collision on the Danube River in Hungary.
Hungarian police received a report late Saturday night that a man had been found with a head injury on the shore of the Danube near the town of Veroce, around 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of the capital, Budapest. The bodies of a man and a woman were later discovered nearby.
Hours after police began their search, they discovered a damaged boat in the water, which they towed to shore. They are still searching for five adults — three men and two women — who they believe were on the boat.
Police said they determined that a river cruise boat had been in the area at the time of the accident. They stopped a cruise boat with a damaged hull near the town of Komarom, more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) further upriver.
Hungarian public television station M1 reported that the cruise boat, Heidelberg, is a 109-meter (357-foot) Swiss craft that can accommodate 110 people. No passengers on that boat sustained injuries, M1 said.
The Danube at Veroce is roughly 1,500 feet (460 meters) wide and is in the center of an area called the Danube Bend where the river makes a sweeping, nearly 90-degree turn to the south. The area is a popular recreational and boating destination and is on a route often used by cruise boats between Budapest and the Austrian capital, Vienna, some 140 miles (230 kilometers) upriver.
The deadly accident comes five years after at least 27 people were killed in Budapest when a river cruise boat collided with a smaller tourist vessel, sinking it in seconds.
The tourist boat Hableany, carrying 35 people who were mostly South Korean tourists, was overtaken from behind by the much larger cruise boat, Viking Sigyn, beneath Budapest's Margit Bridge, in May 2019.
The Ukrainian captain of the Viking Sigyn was last year found guilty of negligence leading to a fatal mass catastrophe and sentenced to five years and six months in prison. He has appealed the decision.
Police on Sunday said they have initiated criminal proceedings against an unknown perpetrator on suspicion of endangering water transport and causing the death of several people.
A spokesperson for the Directorate General for Disaster Management told Hungarian news agency MTI that a group of nearly 90 people from several regional disaster management agencies were conducting the search for the missing from the land, water and sky.
Twelve boats and three drones are involved in the search, and two rescue divers are also involved, Imre Doka said.
Police investigators examine the bow of a river cruise ship after an incident, in Komarom, Hungary, Sunday, May 19, 2024. Police say two people have died and five are missing following a boat collision on the Danube River in Hungary. Hungarian police received a report late Saturday night that a man had been found with a head injury on the shore of the Danube near the town of Veroce, around 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of the capital, Budapest. (Csaba Krizsan/MTI via AP)
This photo provided by BRFK Facebook shows a damaged boat at the northern edge of Budapest where it was towed, after being discovered in the water by police following a boat collision on the Danube River Sunday, May 19, 2024. Police say people have died and several are missing. (BRFK Facebook via AP)
his photo provided by BRFK Facebook shows a damaged boat at the northern edge of Budapest where it was towed, after being discovered in the water by police following a boat collision on the Danube River Sunday, May 19, 2024. Police say people have died and several are missing. (BRFK Facebook via AP)
A car of the diving service of the fire brigade is parked behind the closed gate of a military port where rescuers search for victims of a boat accident in Northern Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, May 19, 2024. Last night a motor boat with eight persons onboard crashed with a large river cruise ship on River Danube, north of Budapest. One person has been rescued with serious injuries, two bodies have been recovered and five passengers of the boat are looked for. (Peter Lakatos/MTI via AP)
A car of the diving service of the fire brigade is parked behind the closed gate of a military port where rescuers search for victims of a boat accident in Northern Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, May 19, 2024. Last night a motor boat with eight persons onboard crashed with a large river cruise ship on River Danube, north of Budapest. One person has been rescued with serious injuries, two bodies have been recovered and five passengers of the boat are looked for. (Peter Lakatos/MTI via AP)
A view of the damage of the bow of a river cruise ship after an incident, in Komarom, Hungary, Sunday, May 19, 2024. Police say two people have died and five are missing following a boat collision on the Danube River in Hungary. Hungarian police received a report late Saturday night that a man had been found with a head injury on the shore of the Danube near the town of Veroce, around 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of the capital, Budapest. (Csaba Krizsan/MTI via AP)
Police officers stand on the deck of a river cruise ship after an incident, in Komarom, Hungary, Sunday, May 19, 2024. Police say two people have died and five are missing following a boat collision on the Danube River in Hungary. Hungarian police received a report late Saturday night that a man had been found with a head injury on the shore of the Danube near the town of Veroce, around 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of the capital, Budapest. (Csaba Krizsan/MTI via AP)
Police look at a river cruise ship after an incident, in Komarom, Hungary, Sunday, May 19, 2024. Police say two people have died and five are missing following a boat collision on the Danube River in Hungary. Hungarian police received a report late Saturday night that a man had been found with a head injury on the shore of the Danube near the town of Veroce, around 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of the capital, Budapest. (Csaba Krizsan/MTI via AP)
The bow of a river cruise ship is examined by police experts after the ship was stopped in Komarom, Hungary, Sunday, May 19, 2024. Last night the ship crashed with a motor boat with eight persons onboard on River Danube, north of Budapest. One person has been rescued with serious injuries, two bodies have been recovered and five passengers of the boat are being looked for. (Csaba Krizsan/MTI via AP)
Police investigators examine the bow of a river cruise ship after an incident, in Komarom, Hungary, Sunday, May 19, 2024. Police say two people have died and five are missing following a boat collision on the Danube River in Hungary. Hungarian police received a report late Saturday night that a man had been found with a head injury on the shore of the Danube near the town of Veroce, around 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of the capital, Budapest. (Csaba Krizsan/MTI via AP)
Damage is seen on the front of the cruise ship which was involved in a Danube River accident earlier in Budapest Hungary, Sunday, May 19, 2024. Police say two people have died and five are missing following a boat collision on the Danube River in Hungary. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)
Damage is seen on the front of the cruise ship which was involved in a Danube River accident earlier in Budapest Hungary, Sunday, May 19, 2024. Police say two people have died and five are missing following a boat collision on the Danube River in Hungary. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)
Damage is seen on the front of the cruise ship which was involved in a Danube River accident earlier in Budapest Hungary, Sunday, May 19, 2024. Police say two people have died and five are missing following a boat collision on the Danube River in Hungary. (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)
