Inside London’s giant super sewer that’s going to make the River Thames much cleaner
According to Tideway London, the team behind the project, the new super sewer will be able to serve London and its environment for the next 100 years.
A new super sewer in London is due to make the River Thames a lot cleaner.
Opening in 2025, the new sewer will reduce the need of water companies to dump raw sewage into the country’s most famous river.
According to experts, around 40 million tonnes of raw sewage is dumped into the Thames every year.
It is hoped that this sewer will be able to reduce that figure by around 90 percent, making the Thames significantly cleaner.
The new £4.5bn sewer comes as water companies are under pressure to reduce the amount of sewage being dumped into waterways used by the public.
The reason why the new super sewer has been constructed is because London’s current sewage system can no longer cope.
Originally built following the Great Stink of 1858, during which the smell from the river was so bad Parliament couldn’t meet, the system has now been overwhelmed by London’s growing population.
As a result, the amount of sewage pouring into the river has grown to unsustainable levels, and London’s population is now over double what it was when the system was built.
Technical director of the project, Roger Bailey, told the Mirror: “Even light rainfall can flood the network, mix with raw sewage and be discharged into the Thames.”
Mr Bailey added: “We are intercepting those spills, diverting them into the new super sewer and cleaning up the Thames.”
According to Tideway London, the team behind the project, the new super sewer isn’t a short-term solution.
They estimate that the new 25-kilometre (15.65 miles) long Thames Tideway Tunnel will protect the river and its wildlife for at least the next 100 years.
The hope is that wildlife and nature will be able to flourish in the Thames once the sewer is opened in 2025.
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Alongside cleaning the river, some have wondered whether the super sewer could change the colour of the Thames altogether.
However, according to experts, while the super sewer will clean the river there is one reason why it won’t change the colour.
The reason isn’t to do with what’s in the river, but what the river looks like when there’s no water in it.
CEO of Tideway Andrew Mitchell told MyLondon the reason why the Thames will still look brown is because of the muddy silt on the riverbed.
Mr Mitchell said the area by the water will still have pollution that will need to be cleaned.
He added that the long-term aim of the project was to try and wind the biological clock pack on the river’s pollution.
Mr Mitchell said: “The eventual aim - which is possible - is that the water will be as clean as it was before humans came along and put waste in it.”