London's sewers - 150 years on from 'The Great Stink'

Film summary

We commissioned this short film to mark the 150th anniversary of The Great Stink. In the hot summer of 1858, the stench of sewage in the River Thames so offended MPs that Parliament was suspended and the Government agreed to "take immediate measures for abating the dangerous nuisance caused by the noxious state of the Thames".

A leading Victorian engineer, Sir Joseph Bazalgette, was commissioned to design and build a system of sewers which would remove the sewage from the Thames, sending it instead to be treated the East End at new sewage treatment works in Beckton and Crossness.

The sewers still form the backbone of London's sewage system today, but the pressures of population growth, climate change, and changes in lifestyle are pushing the Victorian-built system beyond its limits, and the health of the Thames, is once again, at risk.

The film looks at:

• The impact of the The Great Stink on London
• Bazalgette's revolutionary system of intercepting sewers, and
• Thames Water's plans to bring London's sewers up to date, with the London Tideway Tunnels project.

The film, a little over six minutes long, is narrated by Derek O'Connell, a technician at Beckton Sewage Treatment Works.

See also

 Press release: 150 years on from the 'Great Stink'