Super Sewer

From the DesignBuild Source - -

 

"Following submission of a 50,000 page development consent application, the public now has the opportunity to give input on the $4 billion Thames Tideway Tunnel, the UK’s largest privately funded engineering project.

 

Thames Water says the ‘super sewer’ is necessary to prevent millions of litres of untreated sewage being pumped into the river each year.

 

London’s sewerage system dates back to the 19th Century and was designed as a combined system. This means a single pipe carries both foul water from homes and businesses and rainwater run-off from streets, roofs and parks to sewage works for processing before being discharged into the River Thames.

 

The system was designed to overflow into the Thames so that peoples’ homes and streets are not flooded with untreated sewage. Although built to last and in good condition, the existing Victorian sewerage network is now too small after rainfall to transfer all London’s sewage to the Thames Water treatment works for processing.

 

As a result, 39 million tonnes of untreated sewage flushes into the Thames in a typical year, enough to fill the Royal Albert Hall 450 times over. Both the volume and frequency contravene the European Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive.

 

Thames Water has worked with the Environment Agency to identify the most polluting combined sewer overflows (CSOs) – the ones that cause unacceptable environmental impacts because of the frequency or volume of the overflow, or because they discharge into an environmentally sensitive part of the river.

 

The new Thames Tideway Tunnel will follow the route of the River Thames so that it can be connected to the combined sewer overflows (CSOs) that are located along the riverbanks. It also allows the river itself to be used to transport materials and minimise the number of existing buildings and structures that the tunnel will pass beneath.

 

The tunnel is expected to be between 6.5 and 7.2 metres in diameter, 66 metres underground at its deepest point and 25.1 kilometres long, making it one of the largest and deepest under London.

 

“After several years of gathering information, design and consultation, we are one step closer to creating a cleaner, healthier River Thames for current and future generations to enjoy,” said Phil Stride, head of the ."