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A survey is being undertaken of all sewers in the new Borough and is likely to
take several years to complete.
b) The sewage from Twickenham, Teddington and Hampton is conveyed through
trunk sewers now under the control of the Greater London Council for treatment at
the Mogden Works, Hounslow.
This plant, serving as it does the whole of the West Middlesex area, receives an
average daily flow of 90 million gallons of sewage. Originally constructed between
1931 and 1936, when it was the largest and most advanced of its kind in the world,
the works were extended between 1954 and 1961 mainly to counter the deleterious
effects on purification of synthetic detergents.
The contributing population is now about 1,400,000 and increasing water consumption,
now over 50 gallons per head per day, impurity loading and the changing
effects of new synthetic detergents have caused temporary over-loading of some parts
of the plant in recent years.
This temporary overloading was partly the cause of the smell nuisance which
received wide publicity in late 1964 and 1965.
The extensions and improvements, at Mogden and the associated Perry Oaks
Sludge Disposal Works, which have become operational during the last eighteen
months have been a major factor in achieving the present satisfactory state of affairs
in regard to smell nuisance. The success of these measures may be judged by the fact
that there have been no complaints from local residents for several months, and that
during most of 1966 as good or better quality effluent was produced and discharged
into the River Thames than at any time during the 30 years Works operation.
These welcome signs of more efficient operation of the works, however, leave no
room for complacency. There are still further improvement works in hand, and
although no guarantee can be given that some nuisance will not recur in particularly
adverse conditions, it is hoped that further trouble will be avoided.
The improvements and extensions referred to are:
Work completed during 1966, includes :
1. Mogden Works.
(a) Additional sludge pumping equipment.
(b) Additional air blowing equipment (1000 HP capable of producing
25,000 c.f.m.).
(c) Conversion of existing sludge digestion tank to improve its efficiency.
(d) Sundry minor plant improvements.
2. Perry Oaks Sludge Disposal Works.
(a) The removal of about 500,000 cu. yds. of consolidated sludge.
(b) The provision of additional lagoons of about 35 million gallons capacity.
(c) The provision of 10 acres of new sludge drying beds.
Work in hand at the end of 1966 includes:
1. Mogden Works.
(a) Construction of additional sludge digestion tanks.
(b) Conversion of further sludge digestion tanks.
2. Perry Oaks Works.
(a) Reconstruction of sludge storage lagoons of about 70 million gallons
capacity.
(b) Sundry minor plant improvements.
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