Fulham says 'NO' to the Super Sewer

The route for Thames Water’s super sewer, which is also known as the Thames Tunnel, threatens two sites in Hammersmith & Fulham - with Carnwath Road in Fulham earmarked for a major construction compound. Thames Water is asking residents in Fulham what they think of the plans to use a densely packed residential area for their main super-sewer construction compound.

Thames Water wants to use land next to Carnwath Road as a 24 hour-a-day, 7 day-a-week construction site for seven years for their £3.6 billion storage tank under the river. The proposals raise a series of issues including:

- The stench that will be created from gases caused by raw sewage in a densely populated residential area next to five local schools
- The clogging up of already congested residential streets with lorries
- The £3.6billion cost of the scheme, which has more than doubled since 2002
- The disruption to local homes caused by noisy and dusty construction work
- The loss of new homes and jobs on the riverside
- The lack of consultation on this site with local people
- Water-rates spiralling by at least £65 per year to pay for the scheme
- The 50 foot high stink pipe to let off sewer vapours that will be a permanent legacy of the scheme.

Hammersmith Embankment has also been targeted for a second smaller sewer construction site. Thames Water wants to dig-up land opposite Frank Banfield Park, on Chancellors Road, and has written to residents to say that the work will ‘inevitably cause disruption’.

In addition to the specific concerns about the two sites in the borough many local people are starting to question whether the benefits of the super sewer are in proportion to the large costs. Issues include:

- The public health benefits will be relatively minimal. There is no risk to drinking water from sewage overflow into the Thames
- Thames Water’s current proposal is not flexible
- The limited benefits are not proportionate to the large and escalating costs, especially during an age of austerity
- The tunnel will do little to increase the capacity of the local sewerage network where, during storm conditions, basements suffer from sewer flooding
- The environmental benefits will also be small. The Thames is ‘one of the cleanest metropolitan rivers in the world’, according to the GLA, and recently won the international Theiss River Prize for cleanliness
- There are sensible and more cost effective alternatives that can make the Thames even cleaner with less disruption to Londoners and without the huge environmental, social and economic costs
- A shorter smarter tunnel, like the Babtie option combined with other measures, could be as effective at a fraction of the cost.

This petition was originally launched in 2008 but has now been updated (as above) to focus on the specific risks to Carnwath Road and Hammersmith Embankment as well as questioning the benefits of the overall scheme.

Please register your email address when signing the petition below – this will help us keep you up-to-date on the super sewer.