Shocking footage taken of the Grand Union Canal in Ealing shows the water blanketed in litter and debris.

The video, taken of part of the canal which runs through Hanwell and Southall , shows countless pieces of plastic and tonnes of debris covering the water.

A boat can be seen parting the mass of green algae as it makes its way through the borough on the 137-mile canal, which starts in London and ends up in Birmingham.

After taking the footage on Monday (August 20), Hanwell resident Daniel Raven-Ellison said that more needs to be done to keep the canal in a good condition.

Footage shows the Grand Union Canal in Ealing covered in debris and litter

Speaking to getwestlondon , he said: "I absolutely love London's canal network and it gives me great pleasure, as I'm sure it does with a lot of people, to see herons and large fish swimming round in it.

"It's a really great part of Ealing, so it's even more upsetting when you see that it is trashed with rubbish.

"Some of that is because when there's a storm, water runs off the landscape and brings rubbish into the canal or from the rivers further upstream.

"Some of it is because wind is blowing rubbish from bins that are nearby the canal that aren't emptied regularly enough – you quite often see bins by the canal that are completely full.

"There are also lots of people who go out and enjoy the canal, who quite often leave rubbish behind on benches or where they're hanging out so that can get washed into the water as well."

Debris in the Grand Union Canal

The Hanwell resident said that other clean-up initiatives are working successfully in other parts of London, such as litter picking paddle boarding sessions run by Active360 near Kew Bridge.

However, Mr Raven-Ellison said that "a lot of these initiatives are not happening in west London, particularly at the frequency they need to" along the Brent or Grand Union.

He added: "It would be great in Hanwell or Southall to have a stand up paddle board library where if we could find somewhere to put a container so people could maybe borrow a paddle board for free in return for helping to keep the canal how it should be for everybody.

"At the beginning of September I'm going to put a call out of some kind and see if we can get a group together to try and crowdfund. We would need a container, a site for the container and equipment to go into it.

"The canal in Ealing is a really underused resource, I see people canoeing and paddle boarding in other parts of London but very few people come up this part of the canal.

"The bigger message isn't about the rubbish - the rubbish we can deal with. The more exciting thing is to enable hundreds more people to enjoy what's such a fantastic resource on our doorstep."

Mr Raven-Ellison also suggested the lack of signage and information along the canal needs to be addressed and said that not many people may know that they're allowed to use it.

He said: "When you're down there there's no signage telling you for example this is the cost of getting onto the canal, you're allowed to canoe here but you need to let the Canal and River Trust know. Here's where you could kayak to within an hour or two, did you know that you can canoe or stand up paddle board all the way to Hackney.

"There's none of that information down by the canal so even if someone was interested in getting onto the water they would naturally assume they're not allowed, whereas the reality is there's a lack of facilities and a lack of information."

The Canal and River Trust agree with Dan’s comments and "hate to see" the canal filled with plastic like this.

A spokesman said: "We have teams, including massive support from volunteers, out every day, all over London cleaning litter from the water and towpath. However, more still needs to be done, and as a charity we are still having to spend far too much money on clearing litter.

"Thankfully there’s growing awareness around the harm plastic does nowadays. Anyone interested in helping out can get in touch via canalrivertrust.org.uk

"We do our work constantly and there is no doubt the quality of the canal is improving. But if people have concerns about a specific area and we can organise a working group to clear up, we will do so.

"I know Dan has been in touch with a colleague about this specific area, so hopefully we are sorting something out with him. We back his #NationalParkCity campaign as well."