trunKate, Oldham
Essentially an outfall sewer serving the South of Oldham, which truncates at the works
I've been trying to follow this for a while now, but bad weather, impassable pipes and lids in some sketch locations haven't made it easy..
Anyway after a full day of fail earlier in the week, I decided to have another crack at this one, having been close to finding something I could actually walk in
The weather looked grim and some serious Cumulonimbus' were sweeping in
Luckily the weather held out, however I did manage to tear my new thigh waders and subsequently became soaked and covered from head to toe in fatty deposits & p00p
Having eventually found a safe lid I headed down into a chamber no bigger than a shoe box
Below was a small inspection landing with another ladder down to the sewer below
Once down the sewer flows from left to right via a 5ft RCP and exits through a 2ft iron pipe
I followed the sewer a good while up the slippery RCP before eventually passing through a large multi-level Storm Overflow chamber
A non-screened CSO, (aside from the barriers that serve as weirs to filter out the solids)
There were an array of ladders that led to each part of the system, I decided to head up for a mooch
Once up top, there was a larger landing overlooking the sewer below
A manhole upto the site above and a makeshift spillway via a PPE pipe
Concious of the weather I didn't want to hang about, as there was no safe exit above, and I later found the overflow provided no exit either
I headed down another set of ladders, which took me below the sewer and into the main overflow
A 5ft RCP carries any discharge to the watercourse below when it reaches capacity
I headed back above ground to take another look downstream
Here are a few pics I took with my phone the other week just after it pissed down
It's here the sewer emerges through a 6ft RCP as it passes through another 'open air' screening chamber before reaching the works
(Sadly the level was still too deep to walk)
Archimedes Screw - Used to filter out the solids
Outfall Sewer as it continues it's final journey to the Wwtw
