Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

THE DRAINAGE SYSTEM OF LONDON. of 40 feet from the low-level sewers into the outfall sewer. As at the Western, Crossness, and Deptford pumping stations, all sewage is passed through screens before it reaches the pumps. From year’s end to year’s end some or all of the pumps are busy—busiest during the working hours of the day and when rain addition to these engines there are centri- fugal pumps to discharge storm water into the river in times of heavy rainfall. Second only to Abbey Mills in pumping capacity, on the north side of the river, is the Lot’s Road station, Chelsea. This was opened on February 20, 1904. BRICKING ARCH OF NEW HIGH-LEVEL SEWER FROM falls heavily, idlest during the small hours of the morning. The drainage of the isolated portion of North Woolwich (Silvertown), which com- prises also parts of West and East Ham, is dealt with at a station rn that area, known as the North Woolwich pumping station. Here there are three vertical triple-expansion engines capable of discharging 4,500,000 gal- lons per day through two 14-inch diameter pipes into the Barking outfall works. In PLUMSTEAD TO CROSSNESS. {Photo, E. Milner.) A sewer—the Counter’s Creek Sewer—com- mences near Kensal Green, and runs for about 4J miles in a southerly direction, draining an area of about 5 square miles, to Lot’s Road, where it dis- Lot’s Road charges into the low-level in- Pumping- Station. terceptmg sewer. In times of heavy rain the Counter’s Creek sewer brings down much more water—some 12,000 cubic feet per minute—than the low-level inter- cepting sewer can deal with ; hence the neces-