London still uses its river as a sewer

London’s Victorian sewers discharge 18 million gallons of raw sewage and urban run-off into the Thames every year. This outdated system that combines drains and sewers can no longer cope with sustained heavy rain. Storm water washes sewage into the river between 50 and 60 times a year, carrying waste from the city’s toilets, kitchens and roads through overflows along the Embankment. As a result, oxygen levels in the water drop catastrophically in summer, killing thousands of fish and other aquatic life. More storms due to climate change will only increase the strain on this system.