We’ve tried dumping sewage into the Thames before, it doesn’t end well. The Summer of 1858 was known as the ‘Great Stink‘, thanks to a combination of warm weather, untreated human effluence and industrial waste flowing into the river.
The incident precipitated an expansion of the capital’s sewer system and helped to bring an end to the cholera outbreaks that would periodically tear through the city. Still, in 1957, A.C. Wheeler, a scientist at the Natural History Museum, declared that parts of the Thames were ‘biologically dead’, largely due to industrial waste. This eventually led to the construction of further treatment works and other improvements along the river, sparking its recovery.
