The Great Stink

Associated With

Not applicable - metropolitan sanitation crisis

Defining Feature

Severe sewage pollution in the River Thames

Status

Historical event - Historical crisis followed by legislation funding metropolitan main drainage works

Overview

In the hot summer of 1858, sewage in the Thames made work inside Parliament almost unbearable.

The river had been a public-health crisis for years, but the stench brought the problem directly to politicians at their own windows.

Parliament rapidly approved the money and powers needed for a metropolitan main drainage system intended to purify the Thames and address London’s sewage problem.

Why It Mattered

The Great Stink turned a long-tolerated public-health problem into an urgent infrastructure priority. Joseph Bazalgette’s resulting sewer network transformed London’s sanitation and demonstrated the scale of engineering needed to address conditions affecting an entire city.

Parliamentary Debate

• Hansard records the Commons debate on 15 July 1858.
• The proposed bill addressed purification of the Thames and completion of metropolitan main drainage.

Funding the Works

• The government estimated the required expenditure at no less than £3 million.
• The 1858 Act permitted Treasury guarantees and created a forty-year metropolitan main drainage rate.

Administrative Control

• The Metropolitan Board of Works received responsibility and finance for the drainage works.
• The Act required separate accounts and allowed Treasury-appointed engineers to inspect the works.

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