The Prince of Wales will visit Thames Water’s Lee Tunnel and Abbey Mills Pumping Station in east London next week to mark the 150th anniversary of the city’s historic sewer network.
The Prince will be following in the footsteps of his great-great-grandfather King Edward VII who, as Prince of Wales, opened the network that transformed the health of the capital’s residents in 1865 following the infamous ‘Great Stink’.
A reception on February 18 at Abbey Mills pumping station, Stratford, will also celebrate another great feat of contemporary engineering – the completion of tunnelling work on the £635 million Lee Tunnel, the deepest ever constructed under London and a key part of Thames Water’s long-term strategy to clean-up the River Thames.
Thames Water chief executive Martin Baggs said:
“We are honoured that The Prince will be joining us for this important moment in our history, with Abbey Mills a fitting place to hold the celebration. It formed the central feature of Bazalgette’s Victorian sewerage system, but the site is also at the core of our current developments.”
“The Lee Tunnel has just been completed at Abbey Mills and this, along with the extensions and improvements at the five sewage works which discharge into the tidal river and the Thames Tideway Tunnel, due to begin construction next year, will greatly improve London’s great river for wildlife and people alike.”
Recognised for its remarkable architecture and ornate interior, Abbey Mills is one of the jewels in the crown of the London Victorian sewerage system, which is still in full operation today. Designed by Sir Joseph Bazalgette, the pumping station played a key role in revolutionising London’s water and wastewater network, effectively eradicating diseases like cholera which had plagued the population for generations.
However, London has outgrown its Victorian network – designed to be used by up to two million people, but now used by more than six million. In a typical year, 39 million tonnes of untreated sewage mixed with rainwater is discharged into the River Thames from overloaded treatment works and combined sewer overflows.
Thames Water’s strategy to tackle the problem is built around three major schemes: a virtually complete £675m programme to upgrade its five main sewage works (Beckton, Crossness, Deephams, Riverside and Long Reach), the £4.2bn Thames Tideway Tunnel and the Lee Tunnel, which runs seven kilometres from Abbey Mills to Beckton, is 75 metres deep and set to be in operation by December.
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