View report page

188
A thoroughfare, known as Jenkin's-lane, runs through the Council's land at the
Northern outfall to the foot of the Northern outfall sewer embankment, where it ends.
The principal use of the lane is made by employees coming to their work at the
Northern outfall and to the Beckton works of the Gas Light and Coke Company, and
other persons having business at these places. To obtain access to the Company's
works it is necessary to cross the sewer embankment. The Barking Town Urban
District Council ran a tramway as far as the sewer embankment at a loss, and
alternative means of conveyance by omnibus being available in connection with the
construction of the East Ham and Barking by-pass arterial road, the district council
desired to discontinue the working of the trams on this line. An essential condition
to the provision of an omnibus service was the widening of Jenkin's-lane and the
Council agreed to surrender the necessary land for the widening of the lane to 36 feet.
The overhaul of the main beam engines and pumps at the Southern outfall has
been proceeding continuously since 1915, when completion of the engines and pumps
in the new engine house offered an opportunity for stopping the old machinery in
rotation. Up to date, the work has cost approximately £12,200.
The roof of the main engine house, which was constructed in 1864, required
to be renewed. The roof has a span of about 45 ft. 7 in., and it was decided that
the new roof should be carried out in reinforced concrete. The tender, amounting to
£4,111 8s. 9d., submitted by D. G. Sommerville and Company, Limited, Grosvenorplace,
S.W., for the work was accepted on 28th October, 1926, and the work is
proceeding.
The accommodation for sludge separated from sewage in the precipitation
channels at the Southern outfall consists of a large underground store capable of
containing 10,000 tons. This arrangement compared unfavourably with that in
operation at the Northern outfall, and on the average each cargo of sludge sent to
sea from the Southern outfall contains 6½ tons less solid matter than from the Northern
outfall, with the result that more water is sent to sea than should be necessary to
dispose of the sludge. The Council has therefore decided to erect overhead sludge
tanks at the Southern outfall similar to those at the Northern outfall. The estimated
cost of the work is £21,000. The undermentioned tenders have been accepted:
The Horseley Bridge and Engineering Company, Limited, Tipton, Staffs, for the
supp'y and erection of overhead tanks, £12,769 16s. 3d.; The Demolition and
Construction Company, Limited., London, S.W., for the construction of foundations,
£2,293 7s. 6d.; Ham, Baker and Company, Limited, Birmingham, for the supply
of sluice valves £680 19s.; and the Sheepbridge Coal and Iron Company, Limited,
Chesterfield, for the supply of piping, £3,611 18s. 9d.
The workmen's cottages at the outfall are being repaired and repointed at
a cost of about £240, and repairs to the pier carried out at a cost of about £520. A
new office has been erected at the outfall for the use of the superintendent of the sludge
vessels at a cost of £270. Sand washed down the sewers accumulates at the outfall
and in the adjacent sewers in large quantities. The cost of disposing of this amounts
to £1,055 for the year.
Apart from the work in connection with the enlargement of Abbey Mills pumping
station, which is referred to under the heading of "Flood relief works," the works
undertaken at the station during the year included the continuation of the overhaul
of the gas engine plant. The total cost of the work up to 31st December, 1927, has
been £2,345.
The apparatus screening the sewage flowing to the Worthington engine house, now
known as the Gwynne engine house, has proved unsatisfactory, owing to the greater
efficiency of the new plant, and the accumulation of rags and other debris in the
pumps has necessitated the frequent stopping of the pumps and the removal of the
accumulations by hand labour. In order to obviate the trouble, the Council decided
to instal a new screen of improved type and this is being fitted at a cost of £2,000.
Southern
outfall.
Abbey Mills
pumping
station.