The Great Stink That Built London's Sewers
Sewage is waste water carried away in drains. London built its sewer network after the smell of the Thames drove Parliament out of its chamber in 1858.
Sewage is the waste water and matter carried away by drains. London acted only when the problem reached Parliament: in the hot summer of 1858 the untreated Thames smelled so violently that members hung lime-soaked curtains at the windows, and the Great Stink pushed through funding for Joseph Bazalgette's sewer network within weeks. Much of it is still in use.
- Waste water and matter. *Raw sewage.*
- Sewer — the pipe that carries it. *A Victorian sewer.*
- Sewerage — the system of sewers. *Sewerage works.*
- Treatment — cleaning it before release. *A sewage treatment plant.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | sewage | Untreated sewage. |
| Noun | sewer | A blocked sewer. |
| Noun | sewerage | The sewerage network. |
| Adjective | sewage | A sewage outfall. |
| Related | effluent | Industrial effluent. |
- Storm overflows released sewage into the river.The substance.
- The sewerage dates from the 1860s.The system.
- A sewage treatment plant serves the whole valley.Infrastructure.
Sewage or sewerage?
- Sewage — the waste itself
- Sewerage — the pipes and infrastructure
- Sewer — a single pipe or tunnel
- Effluent — liquid waste discharged, often industrial
- A common slip — writing sewerage when you mean the waste
From *sewer*, from Anglo-French *sewere*, a channel to carry off water, from a Latin phrase meaning to drain away from. The word *sewage* itself dates from the 1830s.
What was the Great Stink?
The summer of 1858 in London, when hot weather and untreated waste made the Thames unbearable. It led directly to the construction of a modern sewer system.
Is sewage the same as sewerage?
No. Sewage is the waste; sewerage is the system of pipes that carries it.