Super crater risks shrink
Tuesday September 7, 2010
The risks that one of the borough’s prized parks could be dug up to make way for a giant super-sewer entry shaft look to be diminishing thanks to a high-profile council campaign.
Confidence is growing in the town hall that the borough’s open spaces can avoid being named as the location for one of the 100 foot wide entry-craters – although there is still a risk from smaller construction sites, according to the council.
Thames Water is set to name the locations it has earmarked as construction sites for its controversial Thames Tunnel, which is known as the super-sewer, next Monday (September 13).
Scores of sensitive sites across the capital are expected to be on the shortlist and, although Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council is hopeful that its three-year campaign to divert the main entrance away from the borough will be successful, it is still warning that some smaller local sites could be on the list.
Councillor Nick Botterill, H&F Council Deputy Leader, says: “Although we are hopeful that our intense lobbying will mean that Thames Water do not try to blight the borough with a super-sewer entry shaft the battle to protect our parks and open spaces is far from over.
“There is still a risk from these smaller construction sites and we are keeping the pressure up on Thames Water.”
While the sites for the proposed tunnel entry works are about four football pitches big, the ones needed to connect the new sewer to many of the 57 existing pipes – known as combined sewer outflows (CSOs) – are expected to be much smaller.
Thames Water says the super-sewer needs to run underneath the Thames to capture the existing CSOs to prevent some sewage seeping into the Thames following heavy rainfall. The tunnel will be bigger than the Eurotunnel and the smaller construction sites are likely to be within 500 metres of the river, according to the utility company. If it eventually gets the green-light, the 20 mile-long mega pipe – running from Beckton to west London – will take at least eight years to build and water bills will go up to pay for it.
However, experts from the Consumer Council for Water have questioned whether the £2.2 billion estimated cost of the project is justified by the relatively small improvement in water quality that it would create. More than
2,000 H&F residents are also browned-off with Thames Water’s plans and have signed a petition as ‘the cost, chaos from eight years of construction and loss of open space outweigh any benefits.’
Phil Stride, Thames Water’s Head of London Tideway Tunnels, admitted that ‘some people may be sceptical’ but vowed to press on regardless. He said: “Our key task on the project is to ensure that the UK complies with the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive.”
Thames Water’s consultation on potential sites for both the entry-point and CSOs formally launches on September 13 but the council believes a shorter smarter tunnel may be the best way forward.
The council believes that a range of alternative options were discarded too quickly without thorough investigation of their overall benefits in terms of cost, delivery timescale, disruption caused and the social and environmental impacts. The council is calling on Thames Water to reconsider shorter tunnel options particularly at the western end in order to take advantage of the proposals to build the Counters Creek Sewer Flooding Alleviation which is expected to be built by 2023.
Other options, like the Babtie solution, are also being pushed by prominent residents’ groups. For example, The Stamford Brook Residents Association believes that the shorter tunnel that was proposed by Jacobs Babtie Associates, who were brought in by Ofwat in 2005 to review the options put forward by Thames Water, would be preferable. The Babtie solution is a shorter tunnel that would be cheaper and less disruptive to build and still improve water quality.
To sign the council’s petition visit: www.lbhf.gov.uk/sewerpetition (opens new window).
For news on Thames Water’s super-sewer consultation visit: www.thameswater.co.uk/thamestunnel (opens new window).
