The Thames Tunnel is nothing to do with sewage. Its to deal with London's rainwater runoff which can't soak into the ground and replenish the natural aquifers which guard against drought. London has lost most of its green spaces over he years, which is why the rainwater floods into the
sewers.The water that floods into the river is 95% rainwater and 5% sewage. The real damage to the river is when thames Water's the treatment works overflow and thousands of tons of sewage and chemicals enter the river the kill and the fish. Once the Lee Tunnel is completed sometime next year, the volume of sewage will be reduced from about 39 thousand tons to 18 thousand tons. This is easily dealt with. The Thames Tunnel will not stop local London flooding, will not harvest rainwater at a time of climate change and cost every Thames Water customer £80 a year on top of their water bills. This represents a pint of milk and 2 loaves of bread a week for a pensioners for a year. It seems that £4bn+ construction cost is a unrealistic price to pay when operation and maintenance will take this figure up to about £12bn. London annual rainfall is 27 inches a year. Where's the cost/benefit? London's rainwater problem can be solved cheaply with planting more greenery and trees and surfacing roads incrementally with permeable asphalt and were possible everyone who can, installing a water butt. New buildings could utilise grey water. London would be an environmentally healthy city. Thames Water present a one-sided picture to its advantage. The Thames Tunnel will be a major asset owned totally by this private utility company. Its shareholders are overseas so the dividends, paid by you and me, will go outside the UK. It is also uninsurable, so the Treasury has underwritten it - that's taxpayers money.
If you want to know more go to www.cleanthames.org |