In the Green Room with Friends of The Thames' Laura Reineke

During the recent London Climate Action Week we had the pleasure of meeting with the Founder CEO of Friends of The Thames, Laura Reineke.

Laura is a passionate open-water swimmer and lifelong river advocate. She created the charity in response to the ongoing neglect of our waterways by those in power—and to put the river back into the hands of the people who love it.

Friends of the Thames (FoTT) is a grassroots charity created to protect and restore the health of the River Thames and its tributaries. FoTT exists because those in power—regulators, polluters, and policymakers—have failed to act, leaving our rivers polluted, neglected, and at risk.

In the face of this inaction, she and her team believe that change must come from the ground up. FoTT empowers communities to reconnect with their rivers, understand the impact of their actions, and hold polluters accountable.

Through education, activism, and citizen-led campaigns, they are building a movement of river guardians who care, act, and speak up for the Thames. After all, she says, "the Thames is everyone’s responsibility—and also everyone’s source of pride".

Friends of the Thames is guided by values of community, connection, integrity, transparency, and action. Its mission is to empower communities to protect, care for, and reconnect with their local rivers.

The charity’s core aims are to:

Reconnect people with the Thames, making the river visible, valued, and loved once again.
Drive community-led action, putting real power into local hands through collaboration and participation.
Hold polluters and policymakers accountable, ensuring honesty, transparency, and long-term change.
Build a movement of river guardians, rooted in local voices and lived experience.

Current campaigns include:

Rethink the Sink – a public awareness campaign helping people understand what should and shouldn’t go down our drains, and how everyday actions impact the river.
SaveTheThames – a bold, people-powered movement calling for urgent action to stop sewage pollution, protect biodiversity, and demand accountability from water companies and regulators.

It's important to remember that the Thames stretches 215 miles (346km) making it the second longest river in the UK after the Severn. It's all too easy to forget that it doesn't just stretch past the Houses of Parliament! All the more reason why FoTT is such an impressive cause.

On a positive note Central London's Thames has some sewage protection at last.

The Thames Tideway Tunnel (TTT) project previously known as the Super Sewer, is designed to intercept the tens of millions of tonnes of sewage pollution that has historically spilled into the Thames each year.

To date, the TTT, has captured more than 7,000,000  tonnes of sewage pollution that would otherwise have spilled into the River Thames.   

Since the tunnel was fully connected in February 2025, they claim that there have been zero sewage discharges from the spill points to which Tideway connected the new infrastructure.  

In one site near our office in Hammersmith, the project has also incorporated odour removal systems in the nearby pumping station and in other areas nearby, like by Putney Bridge the infrastructure has improved the riverside and allowed for seating and relaxation areas, which were not there previously.

Clearly though the tunnel which slopes from Acton in West London down to Abbey Mills in East London is only 25km long and that leaves around 300km to protect not to mention all the tributaries that flow into the river. Which is why organisations like FoTT can help us enjoy the river and bring the Thames back to its pristine natural state of biodiversity with minimal human interference.

To learn more about Friends of the Thames: www.friendsofthethames.org

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