Tideway, the agency accountable for delivering London’s “tremendous sewer”, the Thames Tideway Tunnel, introduced its profitable activation, on 14 February.
After ten years of building the final of 21 connections has been made between the unique Victorian sewers and the brand new 25km tunnel, bringing on-line a system which it’s hoped will shield the tidal Thames from sewage air pollution.
As with many city places worldwide, London’s sewer community has struggled to deal with the challenges of inhabitants development and local weather change, with rainfall commonly overwhelming the system and inflicting it to discharge into the Thames.
The brand new tunnel is meant to divert many of the current sewage overflows away from the Thames, and drains 34 main sewer overflows within the metropolis.
Tideway mentioned activation of the fully-connected tremendous sewer means 95 per cent of these spills at the moment are being stopped.
The group additionally revealed its newest information on sewage prevented from getting into the river because it first began connecting the tremendous sewer: 5,500,000m³ has been captured up to now. Information updates will probably be revealed commonly through a brand new tracker at www.tideway.london
Tideway CEO Andy Mitchell mentioned: “That is one other vital step ahead – with this last connection full, the tremendous sewer is totally up and operating and defending the Thames. Our subsequent step is to check it in storm situations – which is why we’re retaining a detailed eye on the climate – and we’ll do that over the approaching months.
“We’re at the beginning of a brand new chapter for London and its river. Our mission has at all times been about creating not only a tunnel, however a more healthy, thriving setting for the river and its inhabitants. We stay up for seeing an actual impression within the years to come back and sharing every little thing we be taught concerning the optimistic adjustments.”
The 25km-long tremendous sewer connects to the 6.9km-long Lee Tunnel, a Thames Water asset – forming the ‘London Tideway Tunnel’ (LTT) system, operating from Acton in West London to Abbey Mills in East London.
It begins at Acton Storm Tanks (West London), and follows the trail of the Thames, passing by Hammersmith, Battersea, Southwark, Tower Bridge, and Limehouse, earlier than heading in the direction of Stratford. The tunnel then continues eastward previous Tower Bridge, Limehouse, and in the direction of Stratford, ultimately terminating on the Abbey Mills Pumping Station in Stratford, the place sewage is transferred to the Lee Tunnel after which on to the Beckton Sewage Therapy Works.
The work of bringing the complete system on-line started within the autumn of 2024, when Tideway introduced that the primary 4 connections had led to 589,000 tonnes of storm sewage being captured by the LTT in a single, wet 24-hour interval.
Later, in December, Tideway mentioned that 848,365 tonnes had been captured throughout heavy rainfall in one other 24-hour interval (November 27th).