本集內容

Updating London's Victorian sewage system 升級改造倫敦維多利亞時代的排水系統

文字稿

This is London, but it's a story repeated across the United Kingdom. An ageing sewage network, regularly spilling its pungent load.

這里是倫敦，但此處的現象在英國各地不斷上演。一個老化的排水網絡，經常溢出刺鼻的污水。

But deep beneath the river, the clean-up plan is nearly ready to flow – a five-billion-pound tunnel, the largest and deepest the capital has ever seen.

但在泰晤士河深處，一項清理計劃已經準備就緒：一條耗資50億英鎊的隧道將是首都倫敦有史以來最長最深的隧道。

Jonah Fisher, BBC reporter
The reason we're riding on bikes through this tunnel is because it's just so big. It's 15 miles long, all the way across London under the River Thames. The idea behind it is, well, that it will collect the sewage and storm water that at the moment goes into the river, and take it downhill to east London, where it can be processed properly.

喬納·費舍爾       BBC通訊員
“我們之所以騎自行車穿過這條隧道是因為它很長。長15英里，在泰晤士河下方穿過倫敦。修建該隧道背后的理念是：這條隧道將收集目前直接排入泰晤士河的污水和雨水，將污水向下游輸送至倫敦東部，在那里可以對污水進行妥善的處理。”

We're shown one of the 34 sewage overflow pipes that are being diverted to join the tunnel, rather than flowing into the Thames.

我們看到了34條污水溢流管道中的一條，這些溢流管道會與主隧道合流，而不是將污水直接排入泰晤士河。

The tunnel can hold enough sewage to fill 600 Olympic-sized swimming pools but in the future, that still might not be enough, with climate change expected to bring more heavy rain.

這條隧道可容納的污水量可以填滿600個奧運會標準的游泳池，但未來可能還是不夠，因為預計氣候變化會帶來更多的暴雨。

Andy Mitchell, CEO, Tideway Tunnel
“The point here is that the solution for London going forward is to do something better with the rainwater than simply throw it in the sewers in the first place.”

安迪·米切爾       泰晤士潮路隧道（Tideway Tunnel）首席執行官
“修建隧道的意義在于倫敦未來的排水解決方案是更好地處理雨水，而不是一開始就把雨水排入隧道。”

Not far upstream, what we throw down the loo is actually changing the course of the river.

在泰晤士河上游不遠處，倫敦居民丟入廁所的污物被排入河流，堆積起來后導致泰晤士河的流向發生改變。

Chris Coode, Deputy CEO, Thames21
“So this is what we refer to as a wet wipe reef.”

克里斯·庫德       泰晤士河21（Thames21）副首席執行官
“這就是我們所說的 ‘濕紙巾礁’。”

A mass of wet wipes and sanitary products now jut out into the river at several points.

大量的濕紙巾和衛生用品現在會從幾處被排入泰晤士河。

Chris Coode, Deputy CEO, Thames21
“What look like leaves are wipes. The best case scenario for us is that the tunnel reduces or even stops new material coming to a reef like this and over time, when we start clearing the material, the reef will shrink.”

克里斯·庫德       泰晤士河21（Thames21）副首席執行官
“這些看上去像樹葉的東西是濕紙巾。對我們來說最好的情況是新隧道會減少甚至阻止新排入的污物以這種方式堆積在 ‘濕紙巾礁’ 上，這樣隨著時間的推移，當我們開始清理這些污物時，‘濕紙巾礁’ 才會變小。”

After years of abuse, just maybe the tide has turned.

經受了多年的摧殘后，泰晤士河的命運終于迎來了轉機。