Ignite Plumbing & Heating
The Great Stink — When London's Plumbing Crisis Changed Engineering Forever
In 1858, the smell of London's sewage-choked Thames forced Parliament to act. The result was the greatest plumbing project in history.
The problem by 1858
London's population had grown from 1 million in 1800 to over 3 million by 1858. The ancient street drains and cesspits couldn't cope. Cholera epidemics in 1832, 1848, and 1853 killed tens of thousands. The River Thames — London's drinking water source — was simultaneously its sewer.
The summer of 1858
A hot summer concentrated the raw sewage in the Thames to such a level that the smell — the Great Stink — penetrated Parliament itself. MPs fled the chamber. Within weeks, £3 million was authorised for a new sewer system.
Joseph Bazalgette's solution
Chief engineer Joseph Bazalgette designed 1,100 miles of street sewers feeding into 82 miles of intercepting sewers running parallel to the Thames. These intercepting sewers carried sewage downstream to treatment works at Barking and Crossness, away from the city's water intakes.
Construction statistics
318 million bricks were used. The project employed 20,000 workers at its peak. The northern low-level sewer alone ran for 24km. The system was completed in 1875 and immediately ended London's cholera epidemics.
Bazalgette's legacy
Much of Bazalgette's sewer system is still in use 150 years later. When Crossrail engineers tunnelled under London, they built around the Victorian brick sewers rather than through them. The quality of construction was that good. A fitting legacy for what many consider the greatest engineer in British history.