By Andrew Peers
As reported in the June 2012 issue of Pump Engineer magazine, big plans are underway in London’s wastewater systems.
Although London’s sewage works operate well under stable, dry weather conditions, in heavy rainfall they can become overloaded.
On occasion, excess flows may be discharged to the river, to avoid sewage backing up onto the streets or even into people’s homes.
Around 39 million tonnes of untreated sewage is discharged annually, and as little as 2mm of rainfall can trigger a discharge.
A number of measures are being adopted to resolve this situation.
For example, the Lee Tunnel is being constructed to deal with the largest combined sewer overflow point at Abbey Mills Pumping Station, which discharges into the River Lee.
For this project, KSB (Frankenthal, Germany) is set to supply four 52-tonne waste water pumps.
Each of these pumps will feature an impeller measuring 2.2 metres in diameter.
To see for yourself the impressive scale of the Lee Tunnel project in London