The River Thames in London is getting a £4.5bn ($5.8bn) Super Sewer, with the UK’s largest construction project since privatisation underway. The network is up to 65 metres deep, storing 1.6 million tonnes of sewage. The culvert will be full of waste, saving the Thames from untreated sewage spills totalling tens of millions of tonnes annually. The central tunnel is concrete-lined and wide enough for three double-decker buses, transporting the waste from Acton west to treatment works in Beckton eastwards. The multi-decade project is part of London’s necessary infrastructure upgrade, prompted by the Great Stink of 1858 amid a population of two million people.
Earthworks equipment is creating the 25-kilometre-long main run below the capital to benefit what is forecast to become a 16-million strong population by the mid-22nd century. The city’s Victorian era drainage network is struggling with the current population nearing nine million. The 1858 situation became so critical that parliament was threatened with being moved from its central Westminster location.
Civil engineer, Joel Harland, said: “I do like working on something that is ultimately benefiting society and will benefit the city that I live in as well. The net impact in terms of hygiene and cleanliness of the river can only be a good thing.
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