Tideway-Reconnecting Londoners with the river Thames

London relies on a 150-year-old sewer system built for a population less than half its current size. As a result, millions of tonnes of raw sewage spills, untreated, into the River Thames each year. The solution is to construct the Thames Tideway Tunnel, a 25km ‘Super Sewer’ tunnel that will clean up and reconnect Londoners with the River Thames. The lecture will outline the need for the project, the technical solution, an update on progress and highlight some of the wider legacies that Tideway brings to London. Tideway is upgrading London’s sewerage system to cope with the demands of the city into the 22nd century. Overflows of untreated sewage into the tidal River Thames add up to tens of millions of tonnes every year. By intercepting the sewage before it enters the river, the Thames Tideway Tunnel will help prevent the tidal River Thames from being polluted with untreated sewage which can stay in the river for up to three months before the ebb and flow of the tide finally takes it out to sea. The 25km main tunnel starts in in west London, generally follows the route of the River Thames to Limehouse, where it then continues north-east to Abbey Mills Pumping Station near Stratford. There it will be connected to the Lee Tunnel, which will transfer the sewage to Beckton Sewage Treatment Works. Built from three main construction drive sites in Fulham, Battersea and Southwark, the Thames Tideway Tunnel is nearly 90% complete, sewage overflows will start to be diverted away from the Thames in 2024 and is on course to be fully operational in 2025. Many of the 21 Tideway construction sites are based along the River Thames and this provides an opportunity for Tideway to create a further legacy of three acres of new areas of public realm at 7 sites to connect the capital’s residents and visitors with the river.