Talk:Thames Tideway Tunnel

Tideway Tunnel
Why is it called the tideway tunnel? Does the tide take the sewage away? The aticle does not mention any of this. 94.192.110.50 (talk) 15:46, 13 February 2015 (UTC)


 * The Tideway refers to the tidal section of the River Thames, i.e. that part of the Thames and Estuary which are affected by tides. This is generally accepted to be from Teddington at the west to the North Sea at the east. Before construction of the tunnel, mains sewers take away London's sewage to sewage treatment locations, except in exceptional "overload" situations when the sewage is overflowed / dumped into the River Thames. If this happens, then yes the tide eventually takes away the sewage. For this reason, you shouldn't swim in the Thames at London nor walk along the tidal strand area - since it is unhealthy. The tunnel will run underneath the tideway section of the Thames, hence Tideway tunnel. This article is well behind the curve and needs updating. 86.161.148.153 (talk) 15:12, 4 February 2016 (UTC)

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Tributaries and their SSOs
I added as an explanatory sentence . It was subsequently changed to . My understanding is that Bazalgette's sewerage system intercepted many of the Subterranean rivers of London lock stock and barrel, included within which was any sewage or existing SSO content. Where SSOs discharged to the Fleet, the Tyburn, the Walbrook etc, they were discharges to tributaries and still remain so even though the whole river flow is now contained in a sewer. It is probably pedantic, but those tribs are still tribs and weren't re-sewered by Bazalgette.  Velella  Velella Talk 14:43, 29 April 2021 (UTC)

Tideway should be called a culvert.
The bazalgette sewer systems were built upon rivers and other brooks that served as the foundation for these sewers. This new system being constructed basically acts as an interceptor that will intercept the many overflow points of the old sewer.

As the basis is founded upon rivers, the tideway system is actually known as a culvert and shouldn’t be known as a tunnel or a gizmo “super” sewer that tries to exaggerate itself.

A culvert normally being a underpass for a stream, or river, it can also abbreviate large and lengthy culvert systems such as the meersbrook culvert in Sheffield England or River Monterroso in Estepona Spain which also happens to be in a culvert and to possess wastewater but isn’t called a “super” sewer despite its size being 10 metres+ in span.

Therefore the tideway carrying the output of several streams and rivers should really be called a culvert.

Ekecdnkoewihdouuepiw (talk) 12:49, 9 August 2021 (UTC)


 * Disagree. Most sources for the article refer to the project's core element as a tunnel (a Google News search relating to "Thames Tideway" + "tunnel" identified over 4000, but only 40 mentions for TT + "culvert"). A Wikipedia article "should strive to treat each aspect with a weight proportional to its treatment in the body of reliable, published material on the subject" (WP:PROPORTION). If there is a reliable published source that calls Thames Tideway a culvert, it may merit a brief mention, but we should go with the balance of the majority.


 * Moreover, I think a culvert tends to be used to allow "water to flow under a road, railroad, trail, or similar obstruction from one side to the other". There is no conveyance from one side to another here. Also culverts tend to be specific to one watercourse, not to multiple watercourses, and not to the combined outflows from several such watercourses, effectively a new watercourse conveyed underneath and mainly aligned with the Thames.


 * The promotors of the scheme do, however, occasionally separately refer to culverts, but they are peripheral structures. For example, one is to positioned at the confluence of the Fleet and the 'new super sewer' (source): "Once complete, a giant 3,500-tonne culvert will be floated into position later this year and will connect into the Fleet combined sewer overflow (CSO). This will intercept the raw sewage that currently pollutes the river in this location, diverting it towards the new super sewer." Paul W (talk) 15:42, 9 August 2021 (UTC)

Circular Shape
Just saw a video of the Tideway Tunnel. Why is a circular shape used instead of the usual 'egg-shape' (don't know the correct term) which is used when the water contains solid waste (the egg-shape guarantees that solid waste is also moved when water levels are low)? Thanks. 77.119.203.42 (talk) 11:30, 10 August 2023 (UTC)


 * I guess this is because the deep-lying main and interceptor tunnels are most efficiently excavated by tunnel boring machines, which have a circular cross-section, and line the excavated tunnel with concentric rings of concrete segments. Also, I suspect the main and interceptor tunnels will rarely, if ever, experience low water/sewage levels. However, "ovoid" or egg-shaped sewers will probably continue to be used for the shallower and smaller diameter connections that flow into the main tunnels. Such local sewers differ from the larger tunnels in that they are often constructed from precast concrete sections, craned into position in trenches. Paul W (talk) 12:30, 10 August 2023 (UTC)