Sewers

Draining London's Sewage Swamp

The streets of London lie 30 feet below the surface of the Thames at high tide. The city housed more than two million people in crowded conditions and the situation was deteriorating daily. Epidemics of cholera, typhus, "consumption" and other undefined maladies plagued the City over at least four centuries.

In 1858 "The Great Stink," from the backed up Thames, caused thousands to flee the City, while Parliament remained in session. Windows of the parliament building were draped with curtains soaked in chloride of lime, to prevent closing of the Government. Upper class residents fled the city or drenched sheets with perfumes to mask the odor from the outside. Aging Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, together with his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel, submitted a plan to drain London to the lower side of the river by building a 1,600 foot tunnel under the Thames. Their audacious plan relied on constructing a 25 foot diameter shield behind which 9 men, donkeys and carts would work to remove earth and transport soil to the surface. The huge 25 foot diameter bore sloped from 35 feet under the river bed to 121 feet on the far side. Desperate for any solution, the Commissioners sanctioned the project. If successful, the Brunels would achieve what no one had ever attempted before. Work proceeded rapidly and, surprisingly, the project was completed without a single loss of life, though the younger Brunel was nearly killed in a collapse of shoring just a few feet from the entry of the excavation. When Queen Victoria learned of the success, she was so enthralled with the idea of traveling beneath the Thames that she ordered a small-scale rail with open cars be constructed so that the entire Parliament could accompany her at the dedication journey through the tunnel. The public followed Victoria's enthusiasms. By popular demand, the sewer tunnel was transformed into a fashionable promenade for Londoners. Victoria's railway became a tourist attraction. Gaslights and walkways were installed and small stalls lined the tunnel to provide souvenirs for visitors who paid a small toll to walk under the mighty river. The "railroading" of Brunel's triumph drew even greater awareness and support to the need for better living conditions as London's population swelled to nearly 3 million. The light at the end of the tunnel grew gradually larger. The "hydrolic benefits of tubular drains" and central sewers were promoted by the Commission to Parliament. Special reservoirs of water constructed to "cleanse" existing sewers helped, but it became more and more evident that smooth interior surfaces and adequate slope were needed to provide smooth movement of wastes through the system. The commissioners believed Sir Thomas Crapper's flush toilet was the final connection required "to flush away London's problems." They enthusiastically believed that "with a properly constructed sewer, combined with supplies of water, no deposit will be occasioned and obstructions would become so rare as to need no special provision for cleaning."

Once the idea of using water to carry away human wastes was accepted, London's Commission of Sewers set out to drain the city by means of large egg-shaped tubular sewers fed by "tubular pipes" from individual homes and businesses.

Acceptance of the entire drainage idea was in question after the cholera epidemic hit in 1849. As the public panic grew, "every pipe maker's yard was cleared out."

Poor design and bad workmanship led to frequent and expensive failures and digups from stoppages and collapses.

Water As a Cleaning Tool

An experiment on street cleaning with high-pressure fire hoses led to the first use of the jet hose to clean street surfaces, drainage slots and sewers. An all out effort was launched to determine the cost of "cleansing with water" versus the labor for sweeping, shoveling, scrubbing and hauling away caked-on manures and other wastes. It was proven that water was cheaper by far.