On 29 June, 07:24, Paul Terry wrote:
In message , Basil Jet
writes

There is a drilling rig moving gradually down the middle of the Thames
at the mo. Today it was opposite Bermondsey Wall West. Allegedly it is
connected to some sort of sewer that they are building along under the
river...

No, it's just Thames Water drilling bore holes to determine the best
route for their sub-Thames Tunnel (West London to Beckton), prior to
public consultation on the plans beginning in September.

When eventually built, the tunnel will avoid the necessity of
discharging raw sewage into the Thames whenever there is more than 2mm
of rain.

Apparently it is the biggest sewage project in London since a chap
called Basil Jet tried to solve the problem 140 years ago.

It is seriously impressive stuff - a 9m diameter tunnel (compared with
6m for Crossrail), some 22km in length. Just a shame that they won't be
running double-decker trains through the tunnel when it's not raining.
--
Paul Terry

I wondered what that was for. I saw it just upstream of Vauxhall
Bridge recently when on a No. 2 bus from Marylebone to Norwood.

Presumably this will mean the end of the storm discharge into the
creek from Abbey mills, close to what was originally called the Gas
Engine House, was later converted to Diesels and by the time I looked
into it once was completely empty, but still stank of Diesel oil. I
think it was also known as the 'D' pumping station. I've only once
ever seen water being discharged from there, but there was a great
deal of it.

Interesting place Abbey Mills, but very difficult to get into now.