New River's £6.3m upgrade project in Harringay 'completed seamlessly'

The Thames Water engineering work was designed to reduce flooding risk and prevent leakage, reports Raphael Henry

The New River in Harringay after work was completed (credit Thames Water)

Work on the New River in Harringay designed to reduce flooding risk and prevent leakage has been completed, Thames Water has announced.

The £6.3million project aimed to “future proof” Thames Water’s oldest asset, which transports water from the River Lea in Hertfordshire to the Coppermills Water Treatment Works in Walthamstow, via the two reservoirs at Stoke Newington.

The New River supplies 220 million litres of water per day, or 8% of London’s drinking water, according to Thames Water.

The work saw a new sheet wall installed along a 778-metre section of the New River running south of Eade Road in Harringay.

Sayed Alam, the project manager for the refurbishment, said: “This was a major refurbishment project and was completed seamlessly from start to finish, with minimal disruption to the local community and little impact to the New River’s environment.”

Opening in 1613, the artificial waterway has been supplying drinking water to London for over 400 years.

“As custodians of important infrastructure, it is essential to ensure our assets are resilient to the pressures of London’s growing needs,” Sayed added.

It comes at a difficult time for Thames Water, which saw record losses of £1.7billion in the year to March 2025 amid fears the company might collapse. In May, the water industry regulator Ofwat fined Thames Water nearly £123million over sewage discharges into waterways from Thames Water’s sewage treatment plants.

At the time, Ofwat chief exec David Black said: “This is a clear-cut case where Thames Water has let down its customers and failed to protect the environment.

“Our investigation has uncovered a series of failures by the company to build, maintain and operate adequate infrastructure to meet its obligations.

“This provides a clear opportunity to break with the past, Thames Water will now need to correct the issues our investigation has identified.”

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