Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Great Stink occurred in the summer of 1858 when the River Thames emitted a foul odor that paralyzed the House of Commons. This crisis forced officials to resolve to create a modern sewerage system after ignoring proposals since the early 1700s due to high costs.
Joseph Bazalsette served as Chief Engineer during the construction phase alongside colleagues like William Haywood. Construction required 318 million bricks, vast amounts of excavated earth, and significant concrete volumes to build six main interceptor sewers totaling almost 1,300 kilometers.
Victoria Embankment officially opened on the 13th of July 1870 following the completion of the southernmost low-level sewer incorporated into its structure. The project utilized innovative Portland cement to strengthen tunnels that remained in good order 150 years later.
Beckton Sewage Treatment Works handles up to 190 million gallons per day while Ham manages only 0.15 million gallons daily according to records between 1950 and 1953. Chelsea, Deptford, and Abbey Mills housed facilities designed to provide sufficient flow for the system before discharge into the Thames Estuary.
The Thames Tideway Tunnel received approval in 2014 after studies conducted in 2001 examined the need to handle increasing amounts of untreated sewage dumped directly into the Thames during storms. It consists of a wide diameter storage-and-transfer tunnel measuring 7.2 meters across and stretching 25 kilometers underneath the riverbed.