Brighton sewers
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History
Early in the 19th century the town of Brighton, then known as Brighthelmstone, had a population of around 7000. By 1849 this figure had risen to 60,000 and many of today's familiar places were being built, including the Royal Pavilion, the Volks Electric Railway, the Aquarium and the Brighton Pier. Just before 1860, the town decided that all of Brighton's waste water should be drained into the sea. Until then the sewage and household wastewater was mostly drained into cesspools at the back of dwellings. At this time very few sewers had been laid. The few that existed were 9 in (229 mm) diameter, constructed of 4.5 in (114 mm) brickwork in lime mortar and called gun barrel drains. Some rain water sewers were constructed of hewn chalk with a slate bed and discharged directly on to the upper parts of the beaches. It was forbidden to connect household drains to them, although many illegal connections were made and the outfall pipes were gradually extended further out to sea. Following detailed surveys by the town council, work began in 1865 to improve the systems. The old streets were drained into 3 outfalls, one at the western boundary, one at the town centre (Albion) and one using an existing outfall at Black Rock. Each was provided with an overflow weir which would operate in times of heavy rain.About 44 miles (71 km) of sewers were laid ranging from 12 in (305 mm) diameter salt-glazed ware pipes to 8 ft (2.4 m) circular brick tunnels. The inhabitants of Brighton were not content with this outfall arrangement and, in 1869, public pressure grew for an intercepting sewer; a main trunk which other sewers would drain into and which would take the wastewater out of the town altogether. When the council officials consulted several engineers they received a wide variety of proposals, including extensions to the existing outfalls, an intercepting sewer with an outfall to the west of the town near the present Hove lagoon, and an outfall at Saltdean. Sir John Hawkshaw suggested the scheme which was subsequently adopted, an intercepting sewer draining into an outfall near Portobello, which was then nearly 4 miles (6 km) east of the borough boundary. This generated much controversy locally and it became a hotly argued election issue. An act of Parliament was obtained in 1870 forming a body called the Brighton Intercepting and Outfall Sewer Board. The board accepted a tender of £80,000 from Mr Matthew Jennings and work began in January 1871, but it stopped in May when contractors could not cope with the volume of water encountered.
A new contract was awarded in August to Messrs John Aird and Son and the work was finally completed in June 1874. The cost to the board was £104,608 but Messrs Aird lost £40,000 because they too had trouble with the amount of water encountered. Thirteen pumps of 20 inch diameter were driven by 9 engines to pump an estimated 15 million imperial gallons per 24 hours (790 L/s). The resulting intercepting sewer is circular, made of brickwork, 5 ft (1.5 m) diameter from Hove Street to East Street and 7 ft (2.1 m) diameter thereafter to Portobello, a total of 7.25 miles (11.7 km). At the Old Steine and Black Rock storm water overflows were built.
In 1865 an additional ventilator was added to the system at Rottingdean, incorporating an unusual octagonal building which attracted the interest of a good many would-be housebuyers during its existence. Many years later, this was demolished and a modern bungalow was built in its place. Another shaft, erected in 1876, was topped with a chimney standing 102 ft (31 m) above the cliff top at Roedean. A coke furnace was kept burning 24 hours a day to draw a continuous flow of air through the sewer. The chimney was demolished in 1933.
At Rottingdean High Street the sewer is 50 ft (15 m) below ground and receives the wastewater of Rottingdean by way of a catchtank. Up to this point the sewer has a gradient of 1 yard per mile (600 mm per km), but from here to Portobello the gradient is 1 foot per mile (200 mm per km). As Brighton continued to expand, the sewerage system was extended to include the new streets. Following a severe rainstorm in 1892, it became obvious that some of the trunk sewers would have to be enlarged and a system costing £25,000 was implemented. Repairs were also carried out to the King's Road sewer which was described as being old, although the original construction date was not known. Serious flooding also occurred along Lewes Road and this prompted the construction of the relief sewer in 1929.
As the urban area has expanded, so has the sewer system; 300 miles (500 km) of main sewers now exist beneath Brighton and Hove. Responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the sewers passed from the Brighton and Hove Intercepting and Outfall Sewers Board to the Southern Water Authority following the water act of 1973, then in 1989 to Southern Water as part of the privatisation of the water industry.
London Illustrated News 1882
Libels on BrightonAt a Public Meeting of the Inhabitants of the Borough of Brighton, held at the Townhall, on Thursday, June 29th, 1882, William Henry Hallett, Esq., Mayor, in the Chair:— Resolved—That a Guarantee Fund be provided by Voluntary Subscriptions and placed at the disposal of a Committee, to be applied by the Committee for such Purposes as may be deemed best calculated to vindicate the Sanitary Condition of the Town. The Subscriptions to July 10 amount to £6500.
EXTRACT from REPORT of Sir JOSEPH BAZALGETTE, C.B., C.E., June 27, 1882
"The branch sewers generally are too small to have enabled me to enter and inspect them, but having regard to their superior inclinations and the condition of the larger sewers which I examined, and which had not such rapid falls, and from the observations and inquiries I have made, extending over several days, I am of opinion that, with some minor exceptions, to which I have already referred, and for which I have suggested various remedies, the general condition of the sewers of Brighton is satisfactory, and there are no just grounds for assuming it to be an unhealthy place: on the contrary, I believe it still deserves the high reputation it has always maintained as a desirable place of resort for those who seek the enjoyment of pure and invigorating air."
By Resolution of Town Council, July 5, the Surveyor is directed to carry out the suggestions forthwith to the full extent of the Council's jurisdiction.
Out of the Twenty large Towns grouped together by the Registrar-General, the death-rate in Brighton was the lowest in 1876, 1880, and 1881, and near the lowest in the intervening years.
Source: The Illustrated London News, No.2254—Vol. LXXXI, Saturday, July 15, 1882, p.66
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