River Effra

Diverted overflow outlet of the River Effra into the Thames, by Vauxhall Bridge, beneath Alfred Drury's sculpture of Science
Country	England
Region	London
Basin features
Main source	Upper Norwood Recreation Ground, Upper Norwood near Crystal Palace, London
River mouth	historically Vauxhall of Upper Spring: Crossness
Progression	River Thames

Coordinates: 51°29′14″N 0°07′33″W / 51.4872°N 0.1257°W / 51.4872; -0.1257

The River Effra is a converted river or former large stream in south London, England, mainly underground — due to its history and the pressing need in the late Victorian era for a surface water drainage system its contours have been used for a combined sewer similar to the Walbrook, draining for example much of the historic broadly defined areas of Peckham and Brixton.

The name Effra probably comes from Proto-Germanic *ēþrō via Old English ǣðre, which means 'runlet of water, fountain, spring, stream'.

When the London sewerage system was constructed during the mid-19th century, its designer Sir Joseph Bazalgette incorporated flows from the River Effra into the Southern High Level Sewer, also known as the Effra sewer, running from Herne Hill eastwards under Peckham and New Cross to Deptford — and from Putney, the Southern Low Level Sewer picking up remaining effluent from the old depression converted to sewer at Vauxhall, passing under Kennington and Burgess Park to Deptford merging to form the Southern Outfall Sewer that runs underneath Greenwich and Woolwich to Crossness.