Combine (CSO), Manchester
I decided to head underground once again to evade the searing temperatures and set about some leads I've previously failed to bother with
Believing this to be something else, which still needs looking at, this one was still on the list of leads
UU were working on the other site so I checked a couple of other bits & bobs nearby which didn't bear much fruit, lifting a lid in the middle of a pitch & putt either wasn't going to happen.. I'll be back
Later on I accidentally a ladder and slipped into some fresh, luckily I landed on my feet, but didn't half pen & ink on the way home
Meanwhile I went to look for this setup I had unsuspectingly marked on a map, it was a right mission to get to in the baking heat, and equally a right twat to locate amongst the triffids
It sure is an oddity; The nearby sign has it as a CSO, the kiosk has it marked as a pumping station :confusion
Once in I was surprised how small it really was, instead of the usual screening machinery there was two giant combs that rotate through a 6ft sewer
Scraped solids are dumped into a 2ft trough above, exactly where that goes is a mystery as it would surely be pointless sticking it back into the sewer right ?
Also there is no real provision for manual removal as the only access is a manhole shaft ?
It's definitely a CSO and I could find no evidence of a pumping station apart from a discarded pipe in the corner, which also serves no purpose other than maybe to suck out the filtered debris ?
I'm not even convinced the machinery works, as the motor is rusted to f00k and looks fubar ?
Many questions, few answers, my best guess is it just acts as a storm overflow these days
The lights don't appear to work and it offered some interesting aromas, just like the sewer I wasn't hanging around in here either...
A split lid provides access to the main chamber
Once down the machinery room
Two giant shit scrapers used for combing the turds, a defunct motor and a 6ft trunk sewer which funnels underneath
To the far left of the shot, a slotted 5ft overflow, not easily (safely) accessible which runs a good 600m to the River Mersey
Further left of the overflow chamber and slightly upstream of the trunk is a laddered inspection shaft which houses a rusted penstock wheel
(I only had my shoes on and given the fact it drops straight into a sea of
I only ventured so far)
When at capacity any discharge is carried around 600m via a 5ft RCP to the final outfall which flaps into the River Mersey
