London's Underground River



The River Fleet in London is a tidal river that once provided water for many industries. Over the years, it became quite polluted, then was consigned to flow underneath the city as London grew, until it was eventually incorporated into the sewer system. But the river is still there, filling its tunnels at high tide and ebbing to a trickle at low tide. Read about what happened to the River Fleet and see plenty of pictures at Kuriositas. Link

(Image credit: Flickr user sub-urban.com)

They missed out the best Fleet River fact:

In 1846, the Fleet river exploded, with enough force to destroy buildings and smash a river boat into a bridge.

The explosion was due to a buildup of sewer gases, since the river had been enclosed in a fairly haphazard way. But I don't think you can talk about the Fleet without mention its explosion.
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The Fleet is far from the only natural watercourse to have been enclosed in London when Bazalgette designed his sewage system. They are generally referred to as London's "lost rivers".
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Great article, it showed how the environment is gradually defeated by engineers. They have a motto ""The solution to pollution is dilution". In most instances it did not work, then "out of sight out of mind" was another way to address an issue.
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