Thames Tideway Tunnel Site – Abbey Mills Pumping Station
Index Thames Tideway Tunnel Sites Abbey Mills Pumping Station
Abbey Mills Pumping Station is one of Joseph Bazalgette‘s cathedrals of sewage and as it lies at the junction of the Northern Outfall Sewer and the Lee Tunnel to the massive sewage works at Beckton, it has been chosen as a junction, where the Thames Tideway Tunnel meets the existing system.
The official site says this about the works.
Abbey Mills Pumping Station is an existing Thames Water pumping station site.
In our application for development consent this site receives the tunnel from Chambers Wharf and connects the main tunnel to the Lee Tunnel, which will transfer sewage flows to Beckton Sewage Treatment Works.
This Google Earth image shows the area.
Abbey Mills Pumping Station
The Abbey Mills Pumping Station is clearly marked and the white line running across the image beside it is the Greenway, underneath which is the Northern Outfall Sewer.
I can’t expect that the construction work at this site will cause much disruption, especially as since 2010, they have been building the Lee Tunnel and there doesn’t appear to have been too many protests.
Thames Tideway Tunnel Site – Bekesbourne Street
Index Thames Tideway Tunnel Sites Bekesbourne Street
Bekesbourne Street is not a particularly big site. The official site says this about the works in the area in the planning agreement.
In an average year the Holloway Storm Relief combined sewer overflow
(CSO) discharges 7,900m3 of untreated sewage into the tidal Thames at
London Wharf, Limehouse. On the basis that litter tonnages are
proportional to discharge volumes, approximately two tonnes of sewage
derived litter is also discharged from this CSO in an average year.A worksite is required to control the Holloway Storm Relief CSO and divert
flows into the northern Low Level Sewer No.1. These works would avoid
the need to connect the CSO to the main tunnel. The proposed
development site is known as Bekesbourne Street, which is located in the
London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
So this site will be used to stop untreated sewage going into the Thames.
If you look on the Index Page, you’ll see that this site is marked as 22 on the map and the sewer will seem go from here to Abbey Mills via the Limehouse Cut Tunnel.
They also have a map, which shows two work sites, outlined in red and the line of the Holloway Storm Relief Sewer shown in green
Bekesbourne Street
This is a Google Earth image of the local area to a large scale.
The Holloway Sorm Relief Sewer follows the line of Bekesbourne Street, which is the north-south route down the map from Limeshouse station at the top.
The second Google Earth image shows the wider area from the station to the Thames.
Limehouse Station To The Thames
Notice that the Rotherhithe Tunnel goes through the area. These are pictures I took locally.
It strikes me, that quite a bit of time and effort could have been saved, if when they built the Limehouse Link Tunnel in the late 1980s, they had sorted out the Holloway Storm Relief Sewer at the same time. I could see no trace of the sewer, so it must go deep under the road straight under all the new housing into the Thames.
The new scheme, where all the water and sewage goes to Abbey Mills and Beckton must be much better.
Thames Tideway Tunnel – Index
To many the Thames Tideway Tunnel is contentious. But how will it effect London and where will the construction sites be?
This map from the official site shows the route.
Thames Tunnel Route
Obviously, living in Dalston, the main construction is well away from where I live.
I should say that I have heard convincing arguments, as to why the sewer should be built, from both Thames Water and users of the river, who want it cleaned up.
As a non-resident of effected areas, I probably have no right to directly comment, but with my project manager’s hat on I do have a right to comment on the quality of both the whole project and all the smaller ones related to it.
The following lists the names al the construction sites for the Thames Tideway Tunnel.
23 – Abbey Mlls Pumping Station – My Comments
1 – Acton Storm Tanks (Ealing) – My Comments
13 – Albert Embankment Foreshore (Lambeth) – My Comments
3 – Barn Elms (Richmond) – My Comments
24 – Beckton Sewage Treatment Works (Newham) – My Comments
22 – Bekesbourne Street (Limehouse) – My Comments
15 – Blackfriars Bridge Foreshore (City of London) – My Comments
7 – Carnwath Road (Hammersmith and Fulham) – My Comments
17 – Chambers Wharf (Bermondsey) – My Comments
10 – Chelsea Embankment Foreshore (Kensimgton and Chelsea) – My Comments
9 – Cremorne Wharf Depot (Kensingon and Chelsea) – My Comments
19 – Deptford Church Street (Deptford) – My Comments
5 – Dormay Street (Wandsworth) – My Comments
18 – Earl Pumping Station (Deptford) – My Comments
8 – Falconbrook Pumping Station (Wandsworth) – My Comments
20 – Greenwich Pumping Station – My Comments
2 – Hammersmith Pumping Station (Hammersmith and Fulham) – My Comments
12 – Heathwall Pumping Station (Wandsworth) – My Comments
21 – King Edward Memorial Park (Wapping) – My Comments
6 – King George’s Park (Wandsworth) – My Comments
11 – Kirtling Street (Wandsworth) – My Comments
4 – Putney Embankment Foreshore (Wandsworth) – My Comments
16 – Shad Thames Pumping Station (Bermondsey) – My Comments
14 – Victoria Embankment Foreshore (Westminster) – My Comments
The numbers are those of the map of the route.
The following sites also make up the Greenwich Interconnection Tunnel, that is effectively a branch tunnel to bring sewage from Deptford and Greenwich into the main system, through a junction at Chambers Wharf
17 – Chambers Wharf (Bermondsey) – My Comments
18 – Earl Pumping Station (Deptford) – My Comments
19 – Deptford Church Street (Deptford) – My Comments
20 – Greenwich Pumping Station – My Comments
The Anonymous Widower 
