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165
Better ventilation of the sludge settling channels was found to be desirable,
and as an experiment the removal of one of the twelve walls dividing the channels
and the erection of a spare engine and fan with the necessary piping to ventilate
the twelve channels was authorised. The estimated expenditure in connection
therewith was £810.
The construction of two overhead sludge tanks at the Southern outfall, each
capable of holding 1,500 tons, similar to those erected at the Northern outfall,
was completed during the year. The total expenditure involved amounted to
£23,000.
An accumulation of sand and other material in the lower sludge store at the
outfall, which was of many years' standing, had become so consolidated that it was
necessary to employ manual labour to break it up. The cost of this work, including
the removal of the material, was £970. In addition accumulations of sand in the
pump well of the No.4 pump and sumps in the main engine-house have been removed
by direct employment of labour at a cost of £300.
Four cast iron bollards and the strutting of fender piles on the pier were renewed
at a cost of £350. A new painter's punt for use in connection with the external
painting of the hulls of the sludge vessels, etc., was provided at a cost of £58.
Repairs to the electrical installation were carried out at a cost of £275. In
view of the decision to fix a limit to the amount of electricity allowed free to members
of the staff arrangements were made for the whole of the electric current required
for the staff quarters to be taken from the Erith Urban District Council and for the
installation of meters at a cost of £110.
The condition of the seven boilers in the west boiler-house at Abbey Mills
pumping station, which had been working for nearly 35 years, was such that consideration
had to be given to the question of their renewal or alternatively to the
provision of some form of motive power other than steam. The boilers in question
supply steam for driving the beam engines and pumps in the main engine-house.
In addition to the main engine-house, which was constructed in the year 1869, there
are two other engine-houses. The second engine-house was built in the year 1894
to deal principally with sewage and storm water from the Isle of Dogs, and it has
recently been reorganised. The third engine-house was erected in the year 1912 for
the purpose of pumping storm water, and contains seven gas-driven engines and
pumps. The total pumping capacity of the station is about 1,300 tons a minute.
The area served by the station is 34 square miles in extent on the north side
of the river, and includes all the low-lying lands on this side. Sewage brought by
the low-level sewers is pumped continuously, and at times of rainfall large quantities
of storm water flow to the station. Except at low tide, the low-lying parts of
the City of London, Westminster, Stepney, Hackney and part of Poplar are
entirely dependent upon Abbey Mills pumping station for the prevention of flooding.
Even at low tide the relief given by the storm overflows from these areas can only
be relatively small, and from time to time complaints are received of flooding
in these areas during heavy rainfall.
In recent years the rate of discharge of storm water into the sewers has been
greatly increased by the waterproofing of road surfaces. It has therefore been
considered advisable to increase the pumping capacity here by the installation of
modern machinery in the main engine-house. The present building is spacious and
would lend itself to a gradual replacement of the machinery without much interference
with the working of the station, a matter of considerable moment. Each
of the four bays of the building could accommodate, in place of the two beam
pumping sets at present installed, two centrifugal pumping sets with a pumping
capacity more than three times as great. Such a scheme would increase the total
pumping capacity of the whole station by about 60 per cent., namely from 1,300
tons to 2,100 tons a minute approximately. After careful consideration the
Southern
outfall.
Abbey Mills
pumpiag
station.