Last week (1 – 4 September), a team of Olympic and world-class swimmers completed an unprecedented challenge — a nonstop, 200+km, 3-day relay down the River Thames, finishing at the heart of Government in Westminster.

The Thames Swim Against Sewage was an epic first-of-its-kind endurance event and local campaign group, Save Our Lands and River (SOLAR), which campaigns against Thames Water's Teddington Direct River Abstraction (TDRA) or 'Teddington sewage dump' as locals call it, showed their support as the team reached Teddington.

"It wasn't just about pushing human limits — it was about exposing the limits of a broken water system and demanding urgent action to #EndSewagePollution," campaign group, Surfers Against Sewage (SAS,) said.

The swim united athletes from England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland with SAS, the communities, and citizen scientists fighting to protect their waters.

Together, the team brought people power, hard-hitting data and overwhelming public support right to Westminster — timed to hit as MPs return from summer recess.

SAS said: "The 200km Thames Swim was never going to be easy. Over three relentless days and nights, the team kept moving in a nonstop relay — swimming through darkness, battling exhaustion, pushing through aching muscles and the inevitable dodgy stomachs that come with swimming in filthy water. It was a test of resilience as much as athletic ability.

"But the toughest challenge wasn't physical. Along the route at Slough, Henley and Marlow, the swimmers were forced to halt as we spotted CSOs spewing raw sewage on our live map.

"The irony was hard to miss: Thames Water offering a perfectly timed, unfiltered reminder of exactly why this campaign is so urgent."

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When the swimmers finally reached London, they were not alone. A flotilla of kayaks and a support boat took them on the final stretch from Putney to Westminster with community members there to support.

Together, they carried the message to Parliament's doorstep — a powerful display of people power and a defiant call for government to end the "sewage scandal" once and for all.