Published in Scientific Papers. Series E. Land Reclamation, Earth Observation & Surveying, Environmental Engineering, Vol. XIII
Written by Elena NISTOR
The year 2024 marks the 205th anniversary of the birth of Sir Joseph William Bazalgette (1819-1891), the English civil engineer best known as the mastermind behind the sewerage system for Central London which he devised in the second half of the 19th century, in response to the Great Stink. In the summer of 1858, the hot weather increased the stench of the untreated human and industrial waste deposited on the banks of the Thames and into the river, resulting in about 12,000 fatalities due to contagious diseases. As Chief Engineer of the Metropolitan Board of Works, Bazalgette’s solution was to build a sewer network that would collect the waste water and waste matter flowing freely on the London streets. Proposed in 1858, his project was completed in 1875. The complex infrastructure, consisting of 132 km (82 miles) of underground sewers, about 2,100 km (1,300 miles) of street sewers, and four pumping stations (Deptford, Crossness, Abbey Mills and Chelsea Embankment) has fundamentally reshaped the sewage system of the English capital and is still in use, making London the city it is today.
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