Thames Water is due to start work on the next phase of a major £17.5 million scheme to reduce the risk of future sewer flooding to properties in the Maida Vale area of Westminster and neighbouring Brent.
The scheme to build two underground storage tanks will help 350 properties in the area that currently suffer from sewer flooding when wastewater backs up in the overwhelmed sewerage system.
The project will create a 20 metres deep and 20 metres in diameter sewer overspill tank capable of holding 6.3 million litres of wastewater under Westbourne Green, and a separate tank will be dug under Tamplin Mews Gardens which is 15 metres deep and 15 metres in diameter with a capacity of 2.65 million litres.
Once completed, the tanks will take sewage and storm water, which could otherwise end up flooding people’s homes and businesses, away from the overloaded main sewer pipes and store it until spare capacity in the network becomes available to allow it to flow to the nearest sewage treatment works.
Construction work for manholes and new sewer pipes began at the end of August 2013 – the scheme will take approximately fifteen months to complete.
The existing Victorian sewers are in need of upgrading to cope with heavy rainfall, with storms causing flooding in hundreds of basements in Maida Vale. The risk of flooding can be reduced by upgrading parts of the sewer network and adding more storage near the areas that flood. Thames Water considered over thirty sites before deciding on the final location - there are very few sites suitable for the massive storage tanks.
The work - most of will be below ground – will include the installation of above-ground kiosks equipment to control pumps and a sub-station to provide a power supply.
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