Thames Water Giant Sewage Pipe

[nightshade]

I was walking along the Thames (the path ) when I came to a small park with a bandstand and pleasant green areas. The trees had notices on them saying that 150 trees were to be cut down and the park dug up to make way for a new Thames Water giant sewage pipe. I found a banner on the Railings with the name of the protesters group, and wrote it down, now I cannot find it do any of you know this park? There is a huge circular building there that I assume is a vent (it had cast iron grills all around, no windows) for one of Londons many tunnels.

PS. The Prospect of Whitby side of the Thames

[Deb London]

Was it anything like savekemp?

Save King Edward VII Memorial Park?

I think this must be it:

Google Maps

[nightshade]

PHILIP WOMACK: Save King Edward Memorial Park
Thanks Deb I have just found this from your tip PHILIP WOMACK: Save King Edward Memorial Park
It would appear that the work is going to take 7 years, around the clock, and on the wrong side of the river interferring with residential areas and several of these small green parks

[Deb London]

Small green parks are not only London's lungs, they are London's lifesavers. But to be honest, totally honest, if they are going to keep cramming more and more people into the capital, then they might as well tarmac and concrete the whole blummin' lot and have done. And then we can all get on and be even more miserable, but at least we'll know that it won't get any worse. I haven't got a clue why they keep building and expecting people and services to fit and to function in such a small space. Must be for economic reasons that I don't understand. There honestly isn't the room to have a decent quality of life, you can forget about driving round here, except in the dead of night, they can't police the place effectively, never mind the proposed cuts, etc, etc.

Oh dear, I feel a rant coming on - time to close the curtains and lie down.

[Hawk Roosting]

The vent is for the Rotherhithe tunnel which goes directly under the park - see here.

At the risk of sounding controversial, from what I understand of it, the tunnel Thames Water are constructing can only be beneficial. Much of London's sewage system still relies on Joseph Bazalgette's interceptor sewers, which were built in the latter half of the 19th century and vastly improved the quality of the water in the Thames.

Unfortunately when these were built there was no separation of surface and foul water (as building regs require today) such that when there is very heavy rain (the sort of very heavy downpour that is predicted to occur more frequently with climate change) the sewer network overflows into the Thames, taking raw sewage with it.

From what I have read, what Thames Water are proposing is a huge pipe into which excess storm water/sewage will flow in the event of heavy rain, like a sump, instead of overflowing into the river. Once the rain stops and the levels in the sewers drop, the contents of the sump can be pumped back into the sewer network to be dealt with in the usual way (treatment at a sewage plant e.g., Beckton or Crossness).

Now, TW say that any work in green spaces will be temporary (albeit for a period of a few years) and that damage will be reinstated once construction is complete. Whether they keep that promise obviously remains to be seen - as it is, there will probably be a need for some surface structures for maintenance access to the new pipe.

Whilst nobody wants to see our parks turned into building sites even temporarily (least of all me - management of parks and open spaces provided me with a career for many years), if what TW are proposing prevents raw sewage ending up in the Thames for many years to come, then personally I think the relatively short-term disruption is worth it. There are of course questions as to whether the sites they are proposing are the right ones, or whether there are brownfield sites that are more suitable.

I haven't seen the plans for KEMP but I was there recently and many of the trees are either recent plantings (by Trees For Cities) as part of an ongoing restoration programme, or were somewhat over mature and in need of replacement as part of a cyclical tree planting programme, should Tower Hamlets have one. It's entirely possible that TW's works and the subsequent reinstatement may provide valuable funds for the continuing restoration of KEMP.

[loripo]

Another of their selected sites is Barnes Elms, right next door to the Wetlands centre at Barnes. A well used open area for sports etc. If it goes ahead I suspect they will then decide, as it hasn't been available and therefore in use, it will be a good idea to sell it off for redevelopment.
I agree something neds to be done to stop the dumping of sewage into the Thames, but unless I read reports incorrectly (I hope so) it will not actually stop this

To quote from Thameswater website...
After as little as 2mm of rainfall, London's Victorian sewers which capture both sewage and rainfall can fill up and as there is nowhere else for the excess flows to go, it spills into the river from 57 combined sewer overflows, designed as an alternative to sewage backing up into homes and streets.
These sewage discharges occur around 50 times a year on average.

The Thames Tunnel is a sewer the width of three London buses, which will run up to 20 miles from west to east London, up to 75 metres below ground, broadly following the route of the River Thames.
It will connect up to the 34 most polluting sewer overflows, as identified by the Environment Agency, to capture sewage which would otherwise spill into the Thames, before transferring it to our Beckton sewage works to be treated.