View source for Southern Outfall Sewer

{{Short description|London sewer}}
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[[Image:Northern Outfall Sewer under construction.jpg|thumb|right|Bazalgette's Northern Outfall Sewer under construction]]

The '''Southern Outfall Sewer''' is a major [[sanitary sewer|sewer]] taking [[sewage]] from the southern area of [[central London]] to [[Crossness]] in south-east London. Flows from three interceptory sewers combine at [[Deptford pumping station|a pumping station]] in [[Deptford]] and then run under [[Greenwich]], [[Woolwich]], [[Plumstead]] and across [[Erith]] marshes. The Outfall Sewer was designed by [[Joseph Bazalgette]] after an outbreak of cholera in 1853 and "[[The Great Stink|The Big Stink]]" of 1858.

By 1859, the [[Metropolitan Board of Works]] had been set up and taken over the work of the [[Metropolitan Commission of Sewers]]. The [[Metropolitan Board of Works|Board]] issued tenders for the construction works and the contract for the Southern outfall was let to [[Rowland Brotherhood]].<ref>https://issuu.com/communitymattersmedia/docs/glw383final</ref>

Work started on the southern outfall sewer in 1860 and it was finally opened on 4 April 1865 by [[Edward VII|H.R.H. the Prince of Wales]].<ref name=How>{{cite web| url = http://www.crossness.org.uk/history/londons-sanitation/how-the-system-worked.html| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121002054419/http://www.crossness.org.uk/history/londons-sanitation/how-the-system-worked.html| archive-date = 2012-10-02| title = How the system worked}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.victorianlondon.org/health/sewerage.htm|title = Victorian London – Health and Hygiene – Sewers and Sanitation – sewers}}</ref>

Until this time, central London's drains were built primarily to cope with rainwater, and the growing use of [[flush toilet]]s frequently meant these became overloaded, flushing mud, shingle, sewage and industrial effluent into the [[River Thames]]. Bazalgette's [[London sewerage system]] project included the construction of intercepting sewers north and south of the Thames; the [[Northern Outfall Sewer]] diverts flows away from the Thames north of the river.

South of the river, three major interceptor sewers were constructed:
*The high-level sewer starts at [[Herne Hill]], and heads eastward under [[Peckham]] and [[New Cross]] to a pumping station at Deptford.
*The middle-level sewer starts on [[Balham]] Hill and runs under [[Clapham]] High Street, under [[Stockwell]] and [[Brixton]], through [[Camberwell]] to Deptford.
*The low-level sewer begins in [[Putney]] and runs through [[Battersea]], [[Vauxhall]], and under the Old Kent Road and [[Bermondsey]] to Deptford.<ref>Trench, R. and Hillman, E. (1984) ''London under London: A Subterranean Guide'' (London: John Murray), pp. 75–76.</ref><ref name=How/>

At [[Deptford pumping station]] the sewage is lifted by 18.9&nbsp;ft (5.76 m) to the next section of the sewer<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=London County Council|title=London Statistics 1920-21 vol. XXVII|publisher=London County Council|year=1922|location=London|pages=99}}</ref> which then runs east under Greenwich and Woolwich. From Plumstead to [[Crossness Pumping Station]], the covered sewer forms the southern boundary of [[Thamesmead]] and has been landscaped as an elevated footpath called the [[Ridgeway (London)|Ridgeway]] (similar to [[Greenway, London|The Greenway]] built over the Northern Outfall Sewer).

==See also==
* [[London sewer system]]
* [[Thames Tideway Tunnel]]

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
*[http://www.crossness.org.uk/ Crossness Pumping Station]

{{Water supply and sanitation in London}}
{{Thames Water}}

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[[Category:London water infrastructure]]
[[Category:Subterranean London]]
[[Category:Thames Water]]


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