Richard Aylard, Thames Water’s Director of External Affairs and Sustainability, explains in Thames Estuary Partnership’s magazine ‘Talk of the Thames’ why the proposed Thames Tideway Tunnel and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDS) each have a vital role to play in tackling sewage discharges to the River Thames. The Sir Joseph Bazalgette memorial, tucked away on The Victoria Embankment at the bottom of Northumberland Avenue, rewards close inspection.

Sadly overlooked by the majority of passers-by, it provides an intriguing insight into the debate about whether SuDS could provide an alternative to the Thames Tideway Tunnel. Although he is justly credited as the founder of London’s modern sewer network, the great man’s memorial, like his own drawings, actually refers to ‘London’s main drainage system’. 

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