Bounds Green Rangers

We deserve clean rivers

"Hidden beside and underneath the North Circular Road, Bounds Green Brook is a beautiful green corridor — yet horribly polluted. As an artist and educator, I aim to make the invisible visible — through photographs, maps, and bringing people together on sewage safaris. Monthly testing at Hobart Corner, and upstream at East Finchley Allotments, evidences unacceptable pollution levels, but it also gives me the chance to check in with the brook every month and ask: what can we do to improve this place? It gives us the evidence to hold Thames Water to account for investigating the pollution, but also the opportunity to think big — how can we work with organisations like Thames21, local residents, councillors and the council to improve this environment so biodiversity can thrive rather than die?

At our last visit to Hobart Corner on 24 July, which I organised with our two new Green Party councillors, Thames21, local residents, Pymmes BrookERS river action group, and Ian Russel, Enfield Council's watercourses engineer, we brought together a community of people. Even after living in the area for ten years, I've found that the brook that carved the very valley the North Circular occupies is largely unknown — so the first action is simply to get to know it. We first need to be aware of this vital green corridor running through our locality — and then think how we can act to improve it, for today and for future generations."

Ben Nathan, Artist | Educator, Guardian of Bounds Green Brook

What we do

Bounds Green Rangers is a socially engaged art project and volunteer-run river action group, created by Ben Nathan. It works in collaboration with Pymmes BrookERS, Thames21, East Finchley and Fuel Lands Allotments plot holders, and local residents. We monitor pollution, share results openly, and campaign for clean water across the Bounds Green Brook catchment. We test at two sites — East Finchley Allotments, whose two polluted streams flow directly into the brook, and Hobart Corner downstream. You'll find data and testing dates for both at the bottom of this page.

Why

Both streams at the allotments, and Bounds Green Brook into which they flow, are badly polluted by misconnections with toilet sewage and detergents. Our monthly results on Water Rangers' public citizen science platform have consistently evidenced poor water quality throughout 2025/26. Evidence wins: this data drove Thames Water to listen, and cleaning up East Finchley Allotments' water courses is now on their Surface Water Outfall Programme (SWOP).

Holding Thames Water and Barnet council to account

Thames Water is responsible for identifying misconnected properties — where household wastewater flows into rainwater drains, polluting our streams. Barnet council holds powers to enforce householders to rectify problems that Thames Water finds. Survey work by Thames Water's contractor WERM Limited runs from June to December 2026. We're monitoring pollution levels closely to make sure East Finchley Allotments isn't signed off until the water quality is good.

Water testing dates

East Finchley Allotments
Tuesday 16 June, 6pm
Tuesday 21 July, 6pm
Tuesday 18 August, 6pm
Tuesday 15 September, 6pm

Hobart Corner
Thursday 25 June, 5pm
Friday 24 July,  5pm
Friday 13 August, 5pm

Friday 18 September, 5pm

Friday 2 October, 4pm

Get involved

BoundsGreenRangers@gmail.com

"East Finchley Allotments is a vital green space for many local people in north London, and yet the two streams that flow through it are heavily polluted by untreated human waste released from nearby homes. For decades, Thames Water, which has the power to investigate which buildings the waste is coming from, and Barnet council, which can enforce change, have failed to tackle the problem. We must hold both to account — this failure of coordination is a London-wide problem that destroys biodiversity and harms community wellbeing. We deserve clean rivers."

Ben Nathan, Artist | Educator, Guardian of Bounds Green Brook

Report pollution 

https://www.thameswater.co.uk/help/water-and-waste-help/pollution

https://www.gov.uk/report-water-pollution