On average, there are 32 million tonnes of diluted storm sewage discharged into the River Thames annually, mostly through the combined sewage overflows (CSO’s) found underneath many of London’s bridges. There can be up to 60 discharges a year. Thames Tidal Strategy proposed the Thames Tunnel, which would capture the flows of storm sewage from 34 sewer overflow points along the River Thames; one of these points being located underneath Blackfriars bridge where the ‘river’ Fleet runs into the Thames. If the proposal is successfull, The tunnel will run approximately 32 kilometres (20 miles) through the heart of London, and up to 75 metres beneath the River Thames, broadly following the path of the river.

Although shallow, the River Fleet was once wide enough to accommodate a fair amount of shipping.However, by the 16th century, it had become almost completely clogged up with rubbish and raw sewage. There were increasingly desperate attempts to clean it, all doomed to failure. Sir Christopher Wren even got involved at one point and the lower part of the river was widened into a canal, while the section north of Holborn to the City wall was covered over. Unfortunately, the new canal still acted as a sewage-magnet and the stench became steadily more obnoxious.

In 1732, the authorities admitted defeat and bricked the whole thing over from Holborn Bridge to Fleet Street, and later from Fleet Street down to the Thames. But the river fought back. In 1846, it burst out of its brick casing and engulfed the streets above in a tidal wave of raw sewage……….

In Zambia, the economy is down, the price of fertilisers up and Zambian farmers are tapping into sewage for their vegetable gardens.They will puncture the sewer pipe as it traverses a vacant lot and use the raw sewerage to water and fertilize their vegetables, at the risk of dysentery, typhoid, gardiasis, infectious hepatitis and salmonella…

sewage tapping