King jokes with workers during visit to London's super sewer

Western Telegraph

07-05-2025

Charles visited the Thames Tideway Tunnel on Wednesday to mark the completion of the 10-year project, which is designed to protect the River Thames from sewage pollution well into the future.
The 25km long sewer will intercept, store and ultimately transfer sewage waste away from the Thames with a combined capacity of 1.6 million metres squared.
Charles met construction workers and storemen at the project (Toby Melville/PA)
Tideway said the super sewer will reduce sewage pollution into the river by 95%.Thames Water will then operate the system as part of its London wastewater network.
The King met construction workers and storemen at the project in Embankment, central London, to see first-hand the benefits of the system and see the technology in action.
When told some sewage work is made easier when it rains, he joked: 'Don't worry, it's all going to come in one humongous horror.'
The project took 20,000 people eight years to build, costing £4.5 billion, and is one of the largest engineering projects the capital has seen in recent years, stretching from Acton to Beckton.
Charles was given a tour of the project by Andy Mitchell, chief executive of the Thames Tideway Tunnel Project (Toby Melville/PA)
The tunnel is 7.2 metres in diameter, the equivalent of three London double-decker buses, and the two connection tunnels are five and two metres in diameter, respectively.
Four giant tunnelling machines were used to excavate the main super sewer.
During his visit, Charles met poet Dorothea Smartt, whose poetry about the Thames is printed on the site's ventilation columns.
The King asked: 'Have you done a different poem on each one?'
Thames Tideway chief executive Andy Mitchell, who gave the King a tour of the site, said: 'The King was fascinated with the detail, the quality, the humanity of the space.
'The team was absolutely thrilled the King commented on the quality. There's huge passion here.'
The king travelled to the project on the Mars Clipper, an Uber Boat usually used by passengers (Toby Melville/PA)
To get to the site, Charles rode the Mars Clipper, an Uber Boat usually used by passengers into and out of central London.
He waved at a group cheering from a passing boat.
To Uber Boat chief executive Sean Collins, the King asked: 'Does it (Uber Boat services) go all year round?'
The pair laughed about Mr Collins' experience rowing on the Thames.