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Housing and Local Government, the Rt. Hon. Duncan Sandys, and
put into commission in June, 1955.
Other improvements valued at £6,500,000 are in the course of
construction and when completed will permit of the treatment of a
much larger proportion of the sewage reaching the works before its
discharge into the River Thames.
The improvements were embarked upon by the London County
Council as a contribution to the improvement of the quality of the
river water in the Thames which has deteriorated in recent years.
Barking will benefit from this improvement in the River which has in
the past been a source of nuisance, particularly in the summer months.
The Main Drainage of London
Main drainage in its original sense means the way in which the
waters of country run by way of streams and rivers to their ultimate
destination, the sea.
The earliest sewers serving what is now the County of London
were used solely for carrying away surface water from the land and
streets and were either natural watercourses flowing to the Thames
or ditches oth natural and artificial connecting to them.
As London developed, brick sewers, often of large dimensions,
were built in the streets and connected to the existing watercourses
and streams. As development spread to the banks of the old streams
they were bricked in or sometimes, when their courses were tortuous,
were diverted to adjacent roads until by the early 19th century they
were nearly all below ground.
At first, discharge of offensive matter into sewers was prohibited,
but about 1815 the water carriage system of house drainage was
introduced and a new problem arose. Originally the house drainage
was made to discharge to the cesspits already in use, but the great
increase in the volume of waste that the cesspits were called upon to
take necessitated overflow drains and, with the growth of piped water
supply, their connection to sewers was permitted and in 1847, made
compulsory. As a result of this change of function of the sewers, the
condition of the Thames became intolerable.
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