The Modern Urban Wasteland

"In some of the great cities of Europe -- Paris, Vienna, Prague, and Brussels -- tourists bored with life above ground can descend below. All these cities have sewer museums and tours, and all expose their underbelly willingly to the curious. But not London, arguably the home of the most splendid sewer network in Europe. London's 30,000 miles of sewers don't have enough full-time workers to escort visitors. In 20 years, the number of 'flushers' -- now known as 'wastewater operatives' -- has shrunk from 200 to less than 40. I am privileged, then, to be able to tag along with an inspection looking for water leaks, on a dark London street around midnight. Night is the best time to visit sewers, because the businesses dispelling the most waste are closed, and the flows are calmer."

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"On a bend in the Thames, beyond the Millennium Dome and heading east from Thamesmead, past new developments and tidy houses, sits one of the largest sewage works in Europe. Despite its size, it's quite tricky to find, though there are helpful brown signs stuck on lamp posts along the highway providing directions to Crossness Engines. The engines are a tourist attraction, but only for a select few: The majority of Londoners -- and most city dwellers -- prefer not to think about where the waste ends up once the flush has been pulled."

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"In a small car park, in countryside outside Solihull, an affluent town in England's Midlands, a yellow box has been painted on the tarmac, next to a sign saying, 'Visitors here.' This would not be unusual in a museum, but this is Barston sewage-treatment works, which cleans the foul water of three towns and villages, and where visitors usually have hard hats and trucks, not Size 4 feet and school lunchboxes. But beside the yellow box is a trailer housing a classroom. Every day of the academic year, this sewage school is open for business."

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"From the exit of Kew Gardens underground station in West London, there are wonders in both directions. To the right, a bridge leads to Kew Gardens, a horticultural marvel. To the left, a road leads to the River Thames, the great artery of a great city. 'Sweet Thames,' wrote the 16th-century poet Edmund Spenser, 'run softly till I end my song.' The Thames still runs, but it's often not sweet, which is why I turn left out of the station and head for an unassuming boathouse painted blue. This is the Putney Town Rowing Club, but it's also the headquarters of Rowers Against Thames Sewage, a vocal lobby group founded by PTRC member and graphic designer Anatole Beams."