UK Invites Consultants to Bid for Support to Planning, Design and Construction of Thames Tideway TunnelUnder pressure from the European Commission whose urban waste water directive requires that London's waste water should be collected and transported to be treated before discharge, the UK environment department Defra has been compelled to admit the appalling price being paid for London's outdated sewerage system.The UK government gave on 22nd March, 2007 the go-ahead for detailed design and planning of the Thames tideway tunnel, a giant 'super sewer' tunnel costing GBP700 million that will be built beneath London to bail out the capital's overloaded Victorian sewer system and prevent 52 million cubic metres of untreated sewage and rainwater polluting the Rivers Thames and Lea each year. A call for tenders has now been issued by Thames Water for management services to support the planning, design and construction of the project. Click uk/54.The project will see a 7.2 m-wide tunnel stretching 30 kilometres from Hammersmith in the west to Beckton in the east, with an additional spur tunnel from Abbey Mills in Stratford to Beckton. The tunnel, to be delivered by 2019-2020, will be dug up to 80 metres beneath the surface to intercept sewage and rainwater discharges.But a project of this size has many hurdles to cross before construction can begin. Thames Water needs to obtain planning permission from 12 local authorities. A principal objection is high cost, probably around GBP2-2.5 billion in all including necessary increases in treatment capacity at east London's sewage treatment works. OFWAT, the water services regulating authority, is concerned about value for money delivered in terms of health and environmental improvements. The scale and complexity of the interceptor tunnel raise issues of planning, financing and construction risk, in other words cost uncertainty. The project will add around GBP37 to Thames Water sewerage bills by 2017. Read E-News Weekly 25/2007, 13/2007, 47/2006, 2/2006 & 17/2004. Visit www.thameswater.co.uk/UK/region/en_gb/content/General/General_Image_Below_000173.jsp?SECT=General_Image_Below_000173 and www.londoncouncils.gov.uk/upload/public/attachments/1124/Item%205.%20Thames%20Tideway%20Tunnel%20-%20Alternative%20Options%2012-07-2007.doc 33/07.