London's $5BN New Super Sewer Explained

[@TheB1M]

We'll never grow tired of stuff like this. The most incredible infrastructure projects are the ones that enable us to live our lives - from the most fundamental of levels - while being completely out of sight, out of mind and largely taken for granted 👌🏗

[@c2h6o80]

Great Video! A Video about the "Emscher-Umbau" in Germany wuld be great, it was completet last year and with 5.5 Billion Euros the biggest environmental project in Europe. A whole river system was cleaned from raw sewage by building massive underground tunnels and new WWTPs!

[@FoxOnFilm2209]

Keep up the good work Your videos are amazing

[@DavidLimofLimReport]

Pneumatic mail railway? Do a vid about that!

[@MrTugone69]

I seriously LOVE that u have a mates in co structure sticker on your hard hat.. it's a serious cause that need more support.. nice work guys 👌

[@Rockhopper1]

i want ride a skateboard west to east to see how fast i could get

[@Penultimeat]

Reminds me of that classic story of the man hired to make London’s new Victorian Era sewer pipes. He wisely made them several times the diameter they needed, anticipating growth. He alone saved untold millions in future money. Edit: oh, was it Joeseph Bazalgette?

[@chrismoyler]

Yes, indeed it was. I believe his father was a French military engineer. The story of his fight to get this sewage system built is a truly amazing one. He is worthy of the highest honour. A most extraordinary gift to the UK.

[@Michael75579]

Joseph Bazalgette pumped sewage away from people's homes while his great-great-grandson, the TV producer Peter Bazalgette, ...

[@okotbryan2011]

Absolutely great work from him

[@mach1nefan]

@@chrismoyler we’re covering him in history now (I’m 16!) and the fight to create hygienic conditions for the general public was truly impossible seeming at times - something that never occurred to me before. Bearing in mind only a handful of people believed in germs when it was first built, the Bazalgette Sewer is really a miracle.

[@AWSVids]

We could incorporate the principle of future-proofing into infrastructure designs as a basic standard... but we don't, because there seems to be a mentality of "make work" for the future, where we consider it more important to have jobs for people to do and to keep ourselves more consistent in pace of the economy or of growth... than to future proof things so they don't have to be worked on again for a long time. The daily cycle of jobs and money-flow keeps it so that we don't want to solve things on a long-term basis. We want a reason to keep the money flowing and the employment motivated, much like Apple scheduling the rollout of certain features over a number of years, so they have a reason to release a new version every year... or like Republicans wanting to campaign on the "border crisis", but not wanting to actually vote for a bill that solves it, because they want to have that issue to campaign on for as long as possible... we often see major projects broken up into "phases" or done in a "bare minimum for now, expanded in a few years when we need to" approach, to keep projects providing work and reason for funding for years to come. It's the same mentality that has created our disposable consumerist society, with everything designed to make you have to buy a new one again and again. We could just spend more money now (but less money overall in the long term, which capitalists will see as a long-term bad) and get it all done in one phase by hiring a lot of people to work on it at once, etc... but then what after? All those extra people hired to get it done faster are left without work afterwards, and there isn't always gonna be a major infrastructure project going on if we don't stagger ourselves and pace things out, so they might not have any projects to move onto. And now the money is spent, so how do we keep a consistent and/or ever-increasing amount of money flowing over a long-term period if it all gets spent in one lump-sum at once and then comparatively little-to-nothing for years in-between major projects? Under the current system, we seem to gravitate more towards doing things slower with smaller crews that can provide employment over a longer period and keep the flow of money more consistent and increasing over the long-term... time spent waiting for important projects to finish, be damned. A lot could be different if we didn't set up our entire economy/society around needing to be employed, or always allowing the money men to make the decisions.

[@jmchez]

I can never stop admiring the intelligence and planning skills of the 19th century (and Pre-WWII 20th century) engineers and architects. Almost every B1M video shows the incredible computer systems and massive databases used today for big projects. Bazelgette and his peers only had pen and paper.

[@slavar6868]

They also didn’t waste time on the TikTok 😅 We need those programs, otherwise, nothing will be done bc of distractions. Also, projects are bigger, there is more law restrictions, and variables to account for, like already built bridges, subway, etc

[@johnsherborne3245]

Unlike the governmentsvresponse to the original M25 planning.mits too big they screamed, so now what happens, we have to put up with building the extra lanes that should have been done originally.

[@DriftGody]

This Channel never disappoints! Keep it going guys!

[@TheB1M]

Thank you so much!!

[@NickyMitchell85]

@@TheB1M yes 🙌🏻 I agree ☝🏻 .

[@owenholt2574]

So good to see the B1M grow into the channel it has. Such a good channel

[@MisterSynonym]

Never apologize for covering not-so-glamorous topics like this. Every now and then people need reminding, that there are awesome people in the world, dealing with the stuff that most people wouldn't.

[@86wellacre]

Quite a lot of the UK’s sewer systems need infrastructure upgrades like this

[@dylanpyle6500]

It's more an example of poor planning and poor policy choices

[@jamesardron]

I’d say general water management. Considering we’re starting to see the outcome of all the private ownership

[@gareth4592]

@@dylanpyle6500In terms of future planning, general governance London is far and away the best place in the UK.

[@hlcdriver]

@@jamesardron Oh for goodness sake's, grow a brain. Combined sewerage outflows (CSOs) are in no way the product of privatised water management. We had 100+ years of nationalised water industry management that pumped so much raw sewage straight into the sea that the EEC prosecuted the UK; the nationalised industry didn't bother repairing or replacing the old Victorian cast iron pipes, even after 1976 when your bath water was restricted to 4 inches & standpipes in the street became a thing, hose pipe bans were a regular feature of an English summer; CSOs were common & normal, no-one ever gave a damn. Many EU countries don't even bother to measure the amount of sewage that is released in CSOs. It is only because the industry is privatised that it has become a topic. Note the phrase "since 2020". If they were to be truly representative they would measure from, say, 1970. But they can't, since no-one bothered measuring CSOs in the 70's. The privatised industry fixed the raw sewage into the sea problem that they inherited from the nationalised industry. The privatised industry have replaced enough of the old leaking pipes that hose pipe bans are now rare and localised. This video shows that it is the privatised industry that is fixing the CSO problem that was again inherited from the nationalised industry. Governments have far too many other ways to bribe voters with other people's money, basic infrastructure gets to be neglected.

[@dylanpyle6500]

@@gareth4592 that does not mean much from a nation and world that refuses to see the issues at hand

[@jakemarcus9999]

This is very important topic all around the world. We need to know more about these projects.

[@hsquirrel7407]

I worked on the Thames Tideway Tunnel helping to put the hand drawn diagrams of sections of the Thames wall into a computer system. It was for 1 week of work experience. The sections where next to all the vertical holes to be made as we needed to make sure the wall would not collapse and flood the project!

[@alancobbin]

Should improve London dramatically,cheers Fred 👍

[@jeremyburch5850]

Due to EPA mandate, Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) projects are being implemented all over the USA for all sizes of cities. In Indiana, communities with CSOs were required to develop and implement what is referred to as a Long Term Control Plan, or LTCP. Control strategies that are aimed to significantly reduce or eliminate raw sewage discharge to the rivers and streams primarily include either reduction strategies (e.g. separating sanitary sewers from storm sewers, installing green infrastructure, etc) or storage/treatment strategies (e.g. inline or offline storage followed by wastewater treatment). The ecological, recreational and cultural benefits over the next 100 years are going to be quite impressive.

[@TOPDadAlpha]

The real time mapping for engineering is very impressive to me.

[@RipCityBassWorks]

Portland OR did a smaller scale version of this and the results have been spectacular with the river now safe for swimming and recreation. This project will greatly benefit London for decades.

[@Sosukz]

We could actually start and clean the river this way! Invest in this, seems like a great idea. We might see the thames clean in a few years!

[@DavidKnowles0]

Thames river is already clean for a urban river, this will make it cleaner than ever.

[@BarrenBones-t2h]

Thames is actually surprisingly clean already, the brown is from sediment.

[@noahwail2444]

In Paris they work very hard to clean up the Seine. They want it clean enough to hold the swim contests in the olympics there in a few years.

[@DavidKnowles0]

@@noahwail2444 The Olympics is this year,

[@JamesFFiT]

@@noahwail2444you mean in a few months lol

[@HammerOn-bu7gx]

Thank you for once again providing pertinent information. Well done.

[@Mynamewashere]

Just came back from London and I love to see that you’re covering it right now.

[@hateclub]

Actions by UK water firms are criminal. Directors should be jailed.

[@JHA854]

Nah they will get a multi million pound bonus

[@hlcdriver]

This has been going on for decades, over a century. It is so normal that many countries, even in Europe, don't even bother to measure combined sewage overflows (CSOs).. The nationalised water industry pumped so much raw sewage straight out to sea that the UK was prosecuted by the EEC (as was). The only reason that people care so much is simply because the UK water industry is privatised. The nationalised water industry never bothered to replace the Victorian cast iron pipes, even as your bath water was restricted to 4 inches in 1976 & hose pipe bans were a regular feature of an English summer. The nationalised water industry didn't care about CSOs. It is the privatised industry that has fixed the raw sewage out to sea problem; it is the privatised industry that fixed leaking Victorian pipes, hose pipe bans are now rare & localised; it will be the privatised industry that will fix the CSO problem. Governments will never spend enough money to fix CSOs, there are far too many other ways to spend someone else's money to buy votes.

[@a.j.santiago303]

Great video as always! Keep up the great work!

[@cloverhighfive]

The production quality of your videos is always stellar. I never thought I'd be glued to my screen for an explanation of the upgrade of the sewer system of London! I always love the animations, they help visualizing the projects and their details. But I also appreciate the views, camera angles, the editing, the presentation, everything! You always have a great project to present. Even this one lol

[@danielgranger-ts6en]

Would love to see all the tunnels in Liverpool mapped like that.

[@alanmalle4811]

"from the channel that takes you in some of the biggest sewers, hit that subscribe button" 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@TheB1M]

Have that Logan Paul

[@jorgefernandez-mv8hu]

That was interesting to watch. That topic is so important to the life of a city and it's occupants. At least there is work going on to take care of it.

[@ShaneWi11iams]

Yes, and long over due but to be fair it is a huge project. Thank God now it rains hard it won’t cause this environmental damage. @b1m what is being done to treat the water and refuge?

[@yggdrasil9039]

I was in central London last summer and the stench from the sewers was palpable wherever you walked. This project is timely.

[@matthewtaylor8394]

This deserved a longer video, the challenges they must of overcome to build this thing I image were immense.

[@michaelwhite4298]

I roofed and cladded the acoustic shed at nine elms and Putney, what great project with top people.

[@AmyHarrison-bh6en]

I love the coverage of water and wastewater projects - absolutely critical infrastructure that doesn't get nearly enough attention relative to its importance

[@meep599]

Bro just brushed over unexploded bombs

[@pcfree4994]

After 2 world wars it's not an uncommon problem in many parts of Europe.

[@DavidKnowles0]

It just a standard hazard in Europe.

[@smallbutdeadly931]

just like spiders in Australia

[@bhew7409]

things got pretty spicy here in the EU, thats why we're pretty chill now.

[@DanieliusGoriunovas]

It's really not that surprising or difficult to handle - just need to keep it in mind when escavating and call specialists to disarm the explosives when needed.

[@TAPSM7]

My favourite KZbin channel on a Sunday evening! Such incredible content!!!

[@peterixon8708]

Excellent video and amazing insights into what's in London (we were on holiday there in Feb 2024). Amazing to see Esri being used this way too; I was an early product user, a long time ago. It's a software package that's come a long way.

[@jamesc101]

So much information to absorb and so many things felt like they were barely mentioned. This is NOT a negative, but a mention that I could easily sit through a good 30 mins of details on this masterworks. A request for longer episodes when the content is juicy? (maybe a poor use of words given the nature of this story ;)

[@sssdddkkksss]

Really great video - I wish the Tideway London youtube channel would post more

[@jonathanravenhilllloyd2070]

Love how casually you dropped the word 'feculent' in there. God job.

[@MrAsBBB]

I am in the energy construction industry and have worked on massive oil and gas projects like the greater Gorgon project where we had to preserve the wildlife on an island by sterilising massive cranes before shrink wrapping them before shipping to the island. Humans can really do almost anything if we try , that’s why I am so sad that we have been so slow at stopping Climate change. It’s always been the case that the will and the return on investment has always been the driver in most projects. Great channel.

[@mrnnhnz]

Talking about sewerage may have "icky" overtones, but this kind of project is probably more important than any other that a city faces. More important than food, health, education, transportation, power, water or housing. Just my opinion.

[@heidisparklebottom]

Youve become a natural on camera! This channel is top quality ❤

[@arjunvpillai678]

Now like Paris and many cities, they have to clean it. I know it's an enormous task, but will surely benefit the city in the long term.

[@Alucard-gt1zf]

The Thames is already substantially more clean than most city rivers Paris was horrendous before the started caring about it because of the olympics

[@matmul4850]

​@Alucard-gt1zf No its not. The Thames is no cleaner than any other river running through other European countries.

[@gdok6088]

@@matmul4850 "The Thames is considered to be the cleanest river in the world that flows through a major city. The Thames is home to 125 species of fish and more than 400 invertebrates." The brown colour is caused by sediment constantly stirred up because the Thames is a tidal river:- "Because the Thames is connected to the North Sea, each day it is affected by two low tides and two high tides. Thanks to this non-stop movement of the water, the sediment is continuously suspended in the water column giving it its trademark brown colour. This brown colour is the sign of well-mixed nutrients in the water which makes the tidal Thames a rich feeding ground for aquatic species including two species of seals and also porpoises."

[@EldoCodes]

Love the Thick of it quote!

[@Cdr_Mansfield_Cumming]

It’s disgusting to think that raw sewage is being dumped in any river in 2024. The water firms need renationalising and then allowed to sort the problem out without having to pay billions to shareholders.

[@aubreyadams7884]

Thatcher's legacy, privatised water services. What a wonderful idea.

[@kamitsu2352]

today i learned that london has a "mail rail" - and i live in England!

[@DavidKnowles0]

Had, it long since close down but you can visit it and ride on the trains.

[@Chevy-jordan]

And you can ride on it! The Postal Museum.

[@DavidKnowles0]

@@Chevy-jordan One of the many things I have never gotten around to doing in London. No one can never say there isn't anything to do in London!

[@Brian3989]

Mail Rail is no more. It was built in the era when most mail was transported by rail. It linked six sorting offices with the two mainline stations, Paddington and Liverpool St and had driverless trains.

[@spugesdu]

Well done for slipping in a cracking The Thick of It line.

[@Kiwibirdman1701]

Mail rail is a goddamn national treasure!

[@ce1834]

Huge project a lot of the people in London it serves will never hear of, but sorely needed - well done to all involved, 25km 7m tunnels!!👏👏(with the Thames, the colour has always been brown, not a sign of pollution itself, carries a huge amount of sediment on its silt riverbed)

[@louisstanko86]

Got to love a good old GIS manager

[@gaslightergus]

Finally, affordable living space Smells better than northern London too

[@RunningGag1987]

So good! Thanks for the content!

[@seabiscuits]

A fun implementation of arcgis for casual viewers to play with is Lancashire County Council's "MARIO" Map. All sorts of layers and I can waste hours playing around in it!

[@peterpowis4145]

Great video as always. Any news on when they hope to get it into operation?

[@TheB1M]

Later in 2024 is the plan

[@peterpowis4145]

@@TheB1M Thanks for reply! 👍

[@simonpires6184]

I work on this project. It doesn't finish until at least 2026

[@notjustanother3191]

That was some expensive af looking software.

[@RimRunnerRR]

Technology by ESRI of Redlands, California. Owners Jack and Laura Dangermond. Godfather of GIS Dr. Roger F. Tomlinson (RIP)

[@thesoupdragon112]

Great video, very interesting. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[@DB-ub3wx]

Great video as always, it makes me so angry our government has allowed our waterways to get into such a state in the first place! We need many more projects like this to save our waterways. Plus we need a massive upgrade in our water pipes the amount of water we loose to leaks yearly is astonishing.

[@microcosm1957]

You should do a video on Houston and Harris County’s Drainage Tunnel project. They’re doing a study on adding over 100 miles of 40’ drainage pipes under our rivers

[@alexalekos]

ESRI is still the leader of GIS software, wish to see QGIS bridge that gap sometime

[@konsultarvode6527]

In sweden we solved the overflow problem with having separate systems for sewage and urban runoff.

[@Cassp0nk]

We have that in U.K. too

[@user-hpdengs]

such a great video. keep making videos like this.

[@festeradams3972]

You have to admire the Engineering both today and past. Sounds like the UK is far ahead of us here over the pond, where our infrastructure was "new", back in the 50s and 60's. Since then very little has been done.

[@PlanetMojo]

They built a system like this in Milwaukee back in the 70's. The Milwaukee Deep Tunnel System.

[@karlgt9989]

General public do not appreciate how much raw sewage flows into the Thames

[@johnrowland6144]

no money for hs2 north but all the money in world for london

[@Gfynbcyiokbg8710]

You clearly don't know what you are talking about

[@davidbuick8401]

Now we know why the Waterloo & City line is called "The Drain" :D

[@corum7503]

$150,000 GMC Hummer EV $140,000 Tesla Model X $90,000 Tesla Model Y $110,000 Tesla Model S $140,000 Rivian RS1

[@GazMoby]

Very enjoyable as always 👍

[@alexanderboulton2123]

I call it the Little Stink

[@pawel8365]

You could have taken the easy clickbait route, with zero substance, but instead this channel always has something interesting to look at.

[@jamesengland7461]

Lots of ... substance... flows through here

[@MikeBaxterABC]

The Bowel Movement ONE!!

[@SaintDuma]

Your face when you were like "hit subscribe! We take you into big sh!tholes!" was excellent

[@nativenewlondoner]

High Speed Poo

[@TheB1M]

Hahaha, nice

[@JallenMeodia]

While not a uniquely London issue, it is interesting London's desire to always build down, rather than up, has created nightmare planning issues for any improvements needed.

[@pilotusa]

Chicago has an almost identical problem decades ago. The "Chicago Deep Tunnel Project" started in 1975 and the tunnel (176 km long, up to 10 m in diameter and up to 110 m deep) was completed and in service in 2006.....31 years! But the entirety of that project is not slated to be complete until 2029 (the planning started in 1972....so 57 years to completion!)

[@jeffreyharkness8551]

To learn about Joseph Bazalgette, the civil engineer who designed the current London sanitary system, read The Great Stink of London: Sir Joseph Bazalgette and the Cleansing of the Victorian Metropolis, by Steven Halliday. It may be at your local library.

[@kellyhofer]

Please make a video showing off the underground map of a city like London. Like an inverted version of google maps 3d with the underground view.

[@christianmorris8065]

You are a very good presenter. You are very nicely spoken and have an excellent narrating voice. Aside from your own expertise you could be presenting programmes on mainstream telly

[@plasticpalace]

"Just one more sewer pipe, bro. Just one more will fix it. Just one more." No! That is induced demand. People will just start pooping more.

[@echothelegend]

SECRET TUNNEL!!!

[@Cdr_Mansfield_Cumming]

This video was far too short. I would love to see a much longer version of it.

[@Quapadople]

Old colleagues from the the Greenwhich & Chambers Wharf shafts👍

[@petervisor]

You’re a smart guy. Stop saying “insane”!

[@guilhermetavares4705]

We are also updating the sewage network here in Rio de Janeiro to clean up lagoons, rivers and Guanabara Bay.

[@dragosd460]

Tideway will also dramatically change the landscape on the Thames foreshore, providing acres of new recreational space furthermore, The Blackfriars site will also contribute to extending the city of London “square mile”.

[@BlueMoonday19]

Maybe they should have kept those tunnel boring machines in the ground and set a course for Manchester via Birmingham

[@cascadiasiacascadiasia4577]

We could actually start and clean the river this way

[@patrickphair488]

"feculent" !?! that is a new word for my vocabulary

[@ScarlettHarlett]

I've been waiting for you guys to make a video about this! It's so much easier to get my construction news fed to me in such a palatable way by this channel then reading boring articles and underdeveloped videos about it 🤣

[@volkhen0]

So at the end of the tunnel they will pump sewer from -70m to the surface?

[@bohicajohnson7203]

Bazalgette was a genius.

[@Daimo83]

Mass immigration brought in 15 million people in 20 years so yeah, Britain does have a sewage problem. Those people didn't bring sewers with them. Or houses, or hospitals, or schools.

[@awibs57]

*Bezelgette*. With those side whiskers. He's basically a Monty Python sketch all by himself.

[@lancegoodall5911]

UK sewage - Shaken not stirred!

[@strategicplays2977]

london is a really cool city

[@howardjones6752]

There’s nothing secret about this project, please revamp your heading.

[@GYoung-ew7iz]

EXCELLENT PROJECT

[@sanjdhillon8726]

That's a big tunnel

[@symphantic4552]

That’s a lot of poop!

[@scottg.g.haller3291]

"The flow of feculent" @ 03:12. I applaud everyone responsible for the creation of that phrase! 👏⛲💩

[@katyc.8663]

I didn't know about this addition to the waste collection system in London. I would actually watch a more in depth video about it. Infrastructure is very interesting sometimes.

[@shimsteriom4191]

Great video, thanks 👍

[@paolojorge]

I was looking the the follow-up series on this that the BBC originally published years ago!

[@viktorianas]

What REALLY fascinates me is how people tend to flock in certain areas, like there is not enough land on Earth, will NEVER understand the appeal of millions people in rather small areas... It's like a competition of how many people we can cramp in a square mile.

[@artjom01]

Watched this video and the one about the Paris sewage system. It is crazy to think that those systems are like 200 years old and raw sewage is just duped into the rivers. Can we call ourselves a developed nations?

[@BigStevesGlassBoxes]

Imagine being in charge, and this being acceptable. They do it everywhere, not just london. But how can you possibly turn a blind eye to this? This is what you get when money is more important than your citizens well-being.

[@TheWhale45]

It may not be glamorous but it is definitely too cool for school.

[@ToschKWSaxon]

Thanks