Fergal Sharkey - Jacques Yves Cousteau - Jeremy Paxman TV - Sewer Men TV - Oxford Street Revealed TV - Charles Duhigg - The River Thames: Then & Now TV - Secret World of Your Rubbish TV - Monsterquest TV - Horizon: The Secret Science of Sewage TV - Panorama TV - The Five Billion Pound Super Sewer TV - How the Victorians Built Britain TV - Meet the Lords: Brexit & Exit TV - Fatberg Autopsy: Secrets of the Sewers TV - The Proof is Out There TV - Tonight TV - The Great Stink of 1858 TV - Dispatches TV -
River sewage is down to greed, incompetence and government failure. Fergal Sharkey
The sea is the universal sewer. Jacques Yves Cousteau
The Thames became an open sewer. The newspapers dubbed the crisis The Great Stink. Jeremy Paxman, The Victorians I: Painting the Town: Their Story in Pictures, BBC 2009
They treat three billion litres of waste every day, unblocking sewers, toilets and overflowing drains. Blasting fatbergs blocking up the pipes. And going down sewers to shovel what’s left. Seven Trent is the UK’s second biggest water company, and the sewer men have a stinking job on their hands. It’s a dirty, wet and often thankless task. But somebody’s got to do it. Sewer Men I, ITV 2019
Every year Seven Trent unblocks 45,000 sewer pipes across 9,000 square miles. ibid.
Across the Midlands there’s a network of sewage pipes stretching 94,000 kilometres. It’s Britain’s largest sewage network outside London. ibid.
Wet wipes – the scourge of the sewers. ibid.
Seven Trent Water serves eight million customers across the Midlands and parts of Wales. Every day they take away and treat 2.77 million litres of waste through a 94,000 kilometre network of sewers. Sewer Men II
The well is clogged up with wet-wipes, sanitary products and cotton buds … known as ‘rag’. ibid.
‘You do get used to it.’ ibid. sewer man
A team from Thames Water are getting ready for a night out with a difference. Tonight sewer-flushers Gary and Tim are on the attack; they’re involved in an ongoing battle with fat. Oxford Street Revealed s3e5, BBC 2015
Around New York City, samples collected at dozens of beaches or piers have detected the types of bacteria and other pollutants tied to sewage overflows. Though the city’s drinking water comes from upstate reservoirs, environmentalists say untreated excrement and other waste in the city's waterways pose serious health risks. Charles Duhigg
1858 was the year of the Great Stink. A smell of old Father Thames was so bad that MPs moved parliament out of London. For centuries, untreated human waste was pumped directly into the Thames … Bazalgette built 1,100 miles of sewers. The River Thames: Then & Now, Channel 5 2020
London’s underground sewer network stretches for an incredible 109,000 kilometres. Secret World of Your Rubbish s2e3, Channel 5 2020
Beneath the streets of New York lies a labyrinth of dark tunnels. Legends say the sewers of New York harbour terrifying creatures. Frightening reports of attacks lead a team of experts to prove their existence. Monsterquest goes deep underground in search of Sewer-Gators. Monsterquest s3e5: Gators in the City, History 2009
Manhattan’s sewer network is made up of over 7,000 miles of pipe. ibid.
Look beyond our disgust and we might see it’s a substance with amazing potential to give the ultimate renewable resource, capable of solving some of humanity’s greatest challenges. Its gases have the potential to generate power. It’s full of nutrients that are essential to agriculture. And it contains medical secrets that could transform healthcare. I’m talking about human waste, sewage. Horizon: The Secret Science of Sewage, BBC 2021
The average adult produces one pooh a day of 250g in mass … 75% is water. ibid.
Wet-wipes have only become an issue in the last twenty years. ibid.
Human waste: In the UK we produce 11 billion litres of it a day. The single biggest volume of human waste we produce is urine: two litres a day each. And its rich in minerals. ibid.
The scandal of our polluted rivers. We capture evidence of untreated sewage being dumped. We see the damage sewage causes. And we expose the water companies breaking the law. Panorama: The River Pollution Scandal, BBC 2021
The Thames is a world-famous river and it’s an essential part of London life. But despite its importance, parts of the river are being used as an open sewer. ibid.
This is Barnes in south-west London. Now the river’s pretty low at the moment, so I’m standing on what you might think is the river-bed. Except it isn’t. It’s a mound of wet-wipes. ibid.
This isn’t the exception: it’s commonplace. ibid.
In the hidden world beneath London an army of 4,000 workers is attempting to build the biggest sewer in Britain’s history: seven metres wide and twenty miles long, the enormous tunnel will run directly beneath the River Thames. The five-billion-pound tunnel is urgently needed. The Five Billion Pound Super Sewer I, BBC 2018
A project first mooted almost twenty years ago. ibid.
London’s excess sewage has to go somewhere so to stop it backing up into people’s homes – it’s released into the Thames. ibid.
London’s Victorian sewers are a labyrinth of more than 500 miles of interconnecting tunnels. Parts of the network have never been accurately surveyed. ibid.
If successful, the new super-sewer will capture this waste and transfer it to Europe’s largest treatment works east of the city. The Five Billion Pound Super Sewer II
Jim must scan every inch of the 20-mile stretch of the Thames to complete the underwater map. ibid.
Every day over 30 tonnes of wet-wipes are flushed down London’s loos. ibid.
During tunnelling, engineers plan to excavate over 40,000 tonnes of earth every week. ibid.
The most important part of the machine is the cutter-head; it’s been built specifically based on the predictions of what the earth will be like sixty metres bellow the Thames. The Five Billion Pound Super Sewer III
Sixty metres below the assembly team’s feet deep underground in Battersea excavators have been battling through the tough ground. ibid.
Britain was in the grip of a public health catastrophe … The main cause was dirty water and raw sewage. How the Victorians Built Britain s1e2: Saving the Nation’s Health, Channel 5 2018
A sophisticated network of pipes and tunnels beneath our streets – the sewers. ibid.
Construction began on [James] Newlands’ Liverpool sewer in 1849 … The pioneering sewer took 21 years to complete. ibid.
[Joseph] Bazalgette’s scheme didn’t just change the shape of London, he’d eradicated diseases like cholera for ever, and had transformed the lives of London’s inhabitants. ibid.
The sewage ejectors and many other parts of the palace are on their last legs. Meet the Lords III: Brexit and Exit, BBC 2017
Across Britain under the streets of our cities something sinister is lurking. An epidemic of monster blockages plaguing our sewers known as fatbergs. These huge masses of congealed fat and human waste are a product of what we flush down our toilets and sinks. The battle against them is now costing tens of millions of pounds. Fatberg Autopsy: Secrets of the Sewers, Channel 4 2018
Malaysia, 2017: A man is about to step into his sister’s bathroom when he notices something crawling out of the toilet. The 28-year-old immediately rushes out to tell his sister who whips out her camera and captures this video: the footages show a strange slithering creature emerging out of the bathroom with its head poking out of the door … The Proof is Out There s2e5, History 2022
Water pollution – who’s to blame? What effect is it having on our rivers and lakes? Is enough being done to stop the polluters? And how do we have to put a solution in place? Tonight: Who’s Pollution Our Water? ITV 2022
‘There is not a single river in England that isn’t currently listed as being in good overall environmental health.’ ibid. Fergal Sharkey
Water companies are allowed to discharge untreated sewage into rivers and the sea but they need a permit and it has to be in exceptional circumstances … The privatized water companies have been allowed to self-monitor. ibid.