One of the animals Paul Keane says his rowing groups passed in the same spot day after day

Residents in Brentford have raised concerns about sewage flowing into the local canal network, with dead animals washing up over the summer.

Paul Keane, general manager of watersports charity Brentford Community Boathouse, told the Brentford and Syon Area Forum that the problem had been worsened by the "epidemic of heat" this summer.

The animals were mostly found in the Brentford Lock basin, where the Grand Union Canal meets the River Thames.

"We saw dead foxes, dead ducks and there was a dead cat," Keane told BBC London.

Keane says the water has to be hygienic if children are going to keep rowing on it

"Because of the stagnant water and the fact that the water wasn't travelling anywhere, we were going past them every day in exactly the same spot," he said.

Brentford Community Boathouse events officer Kelly Everden, who volunteered on a clean-up operation organised by Keane, said the children who used the canal were worst affected.

"It's really upsetting on behalf of the children, because that's not anything that they should ever be faced with, especially with a pet cat," she said.

Water quality can also be impacted by misconnections when household sewage ends up in waterways. Ben Morris, founder of Clean up the River Brent, has been working to stop misconnections.

He said: "We need to see much, much better inspections and regulation of plumbing and drainage on our properties throughout the capital.

"Until we've got that done, we are still going to have these sewage pollutions going into our rivers."

Ben Morris set up Clean Up the River Brent to deal with the misconnections sending waste into the water

He added: "The water has to be hygienic, and there are times when it simply isn't. It's a very difficult issue, but it needs an overall strategy."

Keane said the animals were predominantly found with E. coli and botulism, and that the most stagnant stretch was within the locks around Boston Manor Park.

Warm, still water holds less oxygen, creating the conditions in which botulism thrives and speeding up the growth of E. coli.

Hounslow councillor Katherine Dunne said officers in Ealing and Brent were examining misconnections through a River Brent catchment group, and committee chair councillor Dan Bowring urged residents to contact their ward councillors.

"All councillors in Brentford will be concerned about this," he said.

The Canal and River Trust said it aimed to remove any dead animal as quickly as possible. Aquatic weed has been a particular problem at Brentford, it said, because both of its west London weed clearance boats were out of action at the same time.

Thames Water said the area was known to have issues with misconnections and that, while it was not responsible for third-party drainage, it was working with property owners and councils.

The Environment Agency said the area remained in drought, which can affect river health, and that it would continue investigating reports of pollution.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, external, X, external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to hello.bbclondon@bbc.co.uk, external