Published40 minutes ago
After eight years, major construction work on London’s £5bn super sewer is about to be completed.
Known officially as the Thames Tideway Tunnel, it has been designed to reduce the amount of raw sewage that flows into the river.
The 16 mile (25km) long pipe will divert 34 of the most polluting sewage outflows (CSO’s) that have been discharging into the Thames.
Critics say with climate change the tunnel may have a limited lifespan.
“This is the moment we’ve all been waiting for,” Andy Mitchell the CEO of Times Tideway told BBC News from a boat above the tunnel on the Thames.
“We’re going to capture the vast, vast majority of the sewage that comes into the river and it will mean a cleaner river,” he says.
The final step is for a huge 1,200 tonne concrete lid to be lifted onto a shaft in east London. It’s expected to take place sometime in the next few days.
London’s combined sewage system handles human waste and rain runoff together, but the capital’s population has outgrown the infrastructure.
Raw sewage under normal conditions goes to wastewater treatment plants but currently, even a small amount of drizzle in London can overwhelm the network, triggering overflows into the Thames.
The new super sewer will mean that instead of flowing into the river,
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