Chapter · England · Today
The river and the sewer
The Thames, from 1854 to the tunnel's first report
The flush made the Thames dirtier than it had been. This path follows the hundred and seventy years it took to finish the job, from a doctor in 1855 to a report of October 2026.
Context first
A lesson to read before the others, to set the scene.
- The place
- The era
- The people
The river and the sewerThe flush made the Thames dirtier than before, by sending into the river what had stayed in the yards. London took a hundred and seventy years to finish drawing the consequences.9 min
The lessons in this chapter
- 1Seventy-one against fiveIn the same streets of south London, water drawn inside the city killed seventy-one people per ten thousand houses, water drawn upstream five. Nobody had chosen their company.10 min
- 2Twenty-five kilometres under the riverTwenty-five kilometres of tunnel, thirty to sixty-six metres deep, falling one metre every seven hundred and ninety so that it cleans itself, paid for by a supplement on the water bill.10 min
- 3Eighty-six per centThe tunnel's first assessment reports eighty-six per cent fewer discharges, then explains itself that 2025 was dry and that wet years will be needed to know.10 min
How these lessons are written
Each lesson starts from first-hand sources: Wikisource, Gallica, Persée, archives, museums and institutes. A fact without a source does not get written, and every lesson lists its own as direct links.
The rhythm
A lesson is five minutes of cards and four questions. Those questions then come back the next day, then at 3, 7, 21 and 60 days, and that return is what makes it stick. One a day is enough, and you can do several in a row.